Promotion of methane storage capacity with metal–organic frameworks of high porosity

Abstract

Methane storage and onboard delivery using metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) have undergone significant development and benchmark materials with promising performance have been realized. It is still quite challenging to realize simultaneously high gravimetric and volumetric working capacities. This work analyzed the state-of-the-art MOFs with a focus on the effect of pore volume and storage temperature/pressure to achieve optimized performance. The optimal MOF pore volume range increases for storage at a slightly reduced temperature (270 K) and elevated pressure (100 bar). A new benchmark of volumetric working capacity (248 cm³ [STP] cm⁻³) and gravimetric working capacity (0.46 g g⁻¹) was discovered with a highly porous MOF, NPF-200, at 100–5 bar and 270 K.