Kitagawa says porous materials could help industry mine air for feedstocks and fuels

What Happened

Susumu Kitagawa told delegates at the EuChemS Chemistry Congress in Antwerp that metal–organic frameworks, or MOFs, and related porous materials could reshape how industry sources raw materials for chemical feedstocks and fuels.

He framed the idea as a move away from a “digging civilisation” toward a “separating civilisation,” with air presented as the long-term source of the “invisible gold” humanity should learn to mine.

Why It Matters

For chemical buyers and plant operators, the report points to a potential future where capture and separation become more central to sourcing than extraction alone. That would have implications for feedstock strategy, gas handling, and separation-heavy process design.

For labs and EHS teams, the practical significance is that MOFs are being discussed not just as research materials but as candidates for trapping gases and reducing energy-intensive separation steps. The report said the technology’s appeal lies in its open structure and huge surface area.

Key Details

Kitagawa won the 2025 chemistry Nobel prize alongside Omar Yaghi and Richard Robson for the creation and development of porous coordination polymers, including MOFs. The excerpt says his own contribution included developing stable MOFs and then a third generation that was much less rigid than earlier versions.

MOFs are synthesised by combining a metal with an organic linker. As the framework self-assembles, the repeating structure creates a large, often 3D crystalline framework that can capture other molecules within it.

• There are tens of thousands of MOFs in existence, according to the report.
• Kitagawa and his team are working to make them more robust.
• They are also looking for ways to exclude unwanted gases.
• That could remove the need for energetically costly separation steps.

The article also noted that a single gram of a MOF can have the same surface area as a football pitch, underscoring why these materials draw interest for gas capture and storage.

What To Watch Next

The near-term question is whether improved MOFs can move beyond laboratory promise to more durable, selective systems suitable for industrial separation duties. The report said robustness and gas exclusion remain active targets.

Buyers and operations teams should watch for applications that lower energy use in separation, improve gas purification, or support new approaches to sourcing feedstocks from air.