DOE labs discover promising pathway to formic acid from CO2

In Colorado, identifying routes to efficiently convert carbon dioxide (CO2) to an intermediate chemical which can be further upgraded to fuels or commercially valuable chemicals has been challenging. New research from U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) national laboratories discovered a promising pathway to produce formic acid from CO2 with high energy efficiency and durability using renewable electricity. The study titled, A Scalable Membrane Electrode Assembly Architecture for Efficient Electrochemical Conversion of CO2 to Formic Acid, was published in Nature Communications.

Formic acid is a potential intermediate chemical which has a wide range of applications, especially as a feedstock for the chemical or biomanufacturing industries. Formic acid has also been identified as an input for biological upgrading into sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).

The research team led by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, with team members from Argonne National Laboratory and Oak Ridge National Laboratory, investigated several membrane electrode assembly (MEA) configurations in an electrolyzer cell to compare electrochemical reduction of CO2 to formic acid.