Dr. KITAGAWA Susumu Awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry

We would like to extend our heartfelt congratulations to Dr. KITAGAWA Susumu, Kyoto University Executive Vice-President and Distinguished Professor at the Institute for Advanced Study, on being awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

This award recognizes his discovery of Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOF) and the establishment of a new field in materials science.

Between 2009 and 2013, NEDO supported Dr. Kitagawa’s research as a part of its development project for fundamental technologies for green and sustainable chemical processes and for the efficient separation and purification of by-product gases, with Dr. Kitagawa serving as a sub-project leader in the project. The goal of this project was to develop a porous material capable of efficiently adsorbing and desorbing low-concentration, low-temperature, low-pressure by-product gases emitted from chemical factories. Between 2022 and 2024, NEDO also supported the development of CO₂ capture and conversion technologies by accelerating natural processes using porous materials, as part of the Moonshot Research and Development Program.

In both 2017 and 2022, NEDO supported the development of next-generation high-pressure gas cylinders and gamma-version high-pressure gas containers (CubiTan γ type). These projects were conducted by Atomis, Inc., where Dr. Kitagawa serves as scientific advisor, and they utilized the porous coordination polymers (PCP/MOF) he developed as a fundamental technology for the projects.

Additionally, NEDO is currently supporting Dr. Kitagawa’s research as part of the Green Innovation Fund Project: Development of Technologies for CO₂ Separation and Capture, which began in FY2022. This project aims to reduce the cost of separating and capturing CO₂ from low-concentration exhaust gases emitted after fossil fuel combustion by developing and verifying a CO₂ separation and capture system using physical adsorption with structurally flexible PCPs. NEDO is also supporting Atomis’ research and development of a CO₂ separation and capture system from manufacturing processes using innovative MOF adsorbents, which seeks to significantly reduce the energy required for CO₂ separation and capture.

We would like to offer our sincere congratulations to Dr. Kitagawa as we remain committed to addressing energy and global environmental problems and enhancing industrial technology in Japan.