Electrochemical conversion of CO2 to HCOOH at tin cathode in a pressurized undivided filter-press cell

The electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide to formic acid was performed for the first time in a pressurized filter-press cell with a continuous recirculation of the electrolytic solution (0.9 L) at a tin cathode. It was shown that the performances of the system are comparable or slightly better than that of a batch system with a smaller volume (0.05 L). The selection of proper values of both current density and CO2 pressure allowed to achieve quite high values of faradaic efficiencies. Long-time electrolyses have shown that the system is stable and that it can allow to generate quite high concentrations of HCOOH (about 0.4 M). (C) 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.