OCOchem advances hydrogen formate electrolyser process

The company scaled up from 10 to 15 000 cm² over four steps in three years to achieve an industrial scale form factor. As a result of this new benchmark, OCOchem’s CO₂ electrolyser is 650% larger than other platforms, its final industrial scale cell size and is now scaling out into multi-cell stacks in a larger scale pilot plant.

OCOchem specialises in making an organic platform molecule known as hydrogen formate through CO₂ electrolysis, leveraging clean electricity and advanced engineering technologies, instead of sunlight and plant biology, to transform CO₂ and water into valuable carbon-based molecules. Formate serves as a crucial precursor chemical, providing both carbon and hydrogen together in a single liquid molecule instrumental in synthesising a diverse array of derivative materials, chemicals, and fuels. It is the liquid form of energised CO₂ ready for use. OCOchem’s process to make formate is known as 'electro-formation' and is designed for high (104%) carbon-to-product efficiency, high (85%) energy efficiency, room temperature and pressure operation, and lack of waste by-products.

The CO₂ electrolyser produces a safer and sustainable liquid platform chemical, hydrogen formate, which can be made at a lower cost than existing fossil-based pathways as it uses CO₂, water, and clean electricity as its only raw materials. Formate is also used as a platform molecule to make many other molecules, which constitute more than 20% of the US$3.5 trillion/yr global chemical market.

Central to a sustainable future is the concept of regenerated carbon, or carbon harvesting, which emphasises the endless circular reutilisation of CO₂. This aligns with the broader principle of waste recycling and reprocessing, enabling a circular economy where products and their by-products, after use, are then decomposed into molecules and reused, reflecting the natural processes of the planet where solar energy and plants continuously cycle CO₂ and water, maintaining ecological balance.

Read the article online at: https://www.globalhydrogenreview.com/hydrogen/26042024/ocochem-advances-hydrogen-formate-electrolyser-process/