Promethean Particles and the EIC Accelerator: Scaling Up MOFs

Promethean Particles, founded in 2007 on research by Professor Ed Lester at the University of Nottingham, manufactures metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), porous crystals with enormous internal surface areas that can trap gases such as CO2, using continuous-flow reactors that it says make them cheaper and more consistent than batch production. It was selected in the EIC Accelerator's June 2023 cut-off with a grant-only award for REMBRANDT, "Rapidly Accelerating MOF-based Sorbents as a Novel Decarbonisation Technology", which its website lists as a 2024 to 2026 project, according to Promethean Particles. The company does not appear in CORDIS, the EU's project database, so the project's budget and reports are not public.

In November 2025 Promethean fulfilled its largest-ever order, manufacturing and shipping four tonnes of MOFs to a customer in continental Europe for "an energy-efficient gas storage application", according to Promethean Particles. In July 2026 Ahbstra launched ARK, an atmospheric water harvesting system producing up to 500 litres a day using Promethean's ProMOF 3100, according to Promethean Particles. In February 2026 it demonstrated MOF carbon capture to the Duke of Edinburgh at an Institute of Physics showcase, according to Promethean Particles. No commercial carbon capture customer has been announced.

Where Promethean Particles Stands Now

Promethean raised £8 million in August 2024 in a Series A co-led by Mercia Ventures and Aramco Ventures, the venture arm of the Saudi oil company, according to Promethean Particles. Its accounts show average staff rising from 11 in 2023 to 22 in 2025, cash of £5.93 million at the end of 2025, and losses of £1.06 million in 2024 and £0.44 million in 2025, according to filings at Companies House. It appointed its first chief financial officer in October 2025, and founder Ed Lester left the board in February 2026.

The Technology: Molecular Sponges at Tonne Scale

MOFs are built from metal ions linked by organic molecules into lattices full of tiny pores, which can be tuned to capture specific molecules. Industrial adoption was held back by a lack of scalable manufacturing and high costs, the company says. Its patented continuous flow hydrothermal synthesis makes identical MOFs at different scales, in what it describes as the world's largest continuous MOF plant. REMBRANDT aimed to speed up the use of MOF sorbents for capturing CO2, which the company presents as a lower-energy route for industry.

What the EIC Award Promised, and What the Record Shows

REMBRANDT's goal, as its name says, was decarbonisation with MOF sorbents. What the record shows is a company that has scaled its manufacturing and won its biggest orders in gas storage and water harvesting. Whether REMBRANDT delivered its carbon capture milestones cannot be checked because no project record is public.

1. Industrial MOF supplyDeliveredFour-tonne order.
2. Commercial products using MOFsDeliveredAhbstra ARK, 2026.
3. Carbon capture deploymentUnverifiedNo customer named.
4. EIC project reportingUnverifiedNot in CORDIS.

The Money

Before the Series A, Promethean's cash had fallen to £184,640 at the end of 2023. The 2024 round restored its balance sheet. The amount of the EIC grant has not been published, and whether it was paid by the EU or by Innovate UK under the UK's Horizon Europe arrangements is not public.

What Cannot Be Checked

Why Europe Should Care

The 2025 Nobel Prize in Chemistry went to the scientists who developed MOFs. A supplier that can make them by the tonne addresses the bottleneck the company itself names: until recently MOFs were produced in grams or kilograms. Promethean is building that capacity in the UK, with backing that includes Saudi Aramco's venture arm; its carbon capture market has yet to show up in announced orders.

The Verdict

Promethean Particles and the EIC have not been asked for comment for this article. It is based entirely on public records and published statements, linked throughout.