Japan’s energy major JERA, through JERA Ventures, has invested approximately £1 million ($1.24 million) in Immaterial, a UK company that aims to accelerate the energy transition with its CO2 capture and hydrogen storage technologies.
JERA said it will support startup growth and cocreation by offering its facilities and its LNG, hydrogen and ammonia value chain for proof-of-concept or verification testing using actual equipment.
Immaterial develops and produces monolithic metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) designed for the separation and storage of gas molecules, and according to JERA, Immaterial’s advanced production technology makes MOFs industrially robust while having higher adsorption capacity, leading to lower operating and capital costs.
Japan’s major highlighted that as it seeks to achieve, by 2050, virtually zero CO2 emissions from its operations in Japan and overseas, it faces challenges including cost reduction of the transportation and storage of hydrogen energy and recovery technology for CO2, and the MOFs developed by Immaterial have the potential to accelerate the resolution of these challenges.
To note, MOFs are organic-inorganic hybrid materials developed as adsorbents to separate and store H2, CO2 or other chemical compounds from industrial mixed gas streams.