Free Carbon Technology Co., Limited

Free Carbon Technology is a membrane-based flow cell reaction system to alleviate greenhouse effect and reduce carbon emissions at the source. The system produces formic acid at both electrodes at the same time. At the cathode, carbon dioxide gas is converted to formic acid; at the anode chamber small molecules are oxidised to formic acid. After separation and purification, formic acid can be used as an intermediate in pharmaceutical production, or for production of fuel cells and hydrogen. The team developed their own core components for the reaction system, including bipolar plate, ion exchange membrane, carbon paper, anode and cathode catalyst, as well as the world’s first bimetallic catalyst. At present, the carbon dioxide conversion rate of the system exceeds 50%, with an energy efficiency close to 50%. It can run stably and efficiently for 500 hours, converting 100g of carbon dioxide per day. The formic acid acquired achieves over 75% in purity, at a concentration of about 0.5M.

Key Team Member(s)

Dr. PENG Lu Wei (Department of Applied Physics)

Prof. Haitao HUANG (Department of Applied Physics)

Ivan LI

WANG Xi-yang (Department of Applied Physics)

CHUAI Hong-yuan (Department of Applied Physics)
LUO Ning-zhi