OCOchem was founded with the premise that capturing carbon makes no sense if you cant use it. Therefore, the company chose to build a process to convert it to formic acid for energy storage.

OCOchem designs, develops, and operates modular electrochemical technology to make green hydrogen energy in an energy-dense and non-flammable liquid hydrogen carrier molecule, formic acid, and other formate products. Essentially, OCOchem makes formic from CO2, water, and energy. This all happens in a machine, called the Carbon Flux Electrolyzer.

The value in their technology relies in the fact that a techno-economic comparison based on many different sources arrived to the conclusion that the lowest way to transport and move hydrogen is in the liquid transfer with formic acid. Because it has 2 electrons in stead of 6 like ammonia. Additionally, formic is a globally trade commodity.

Since 2017, OCOchem raised more than $14M in the last years from which US DOE, Arpa E, and NETL can be highlighted as main investors

OCOchem has a 2 sided business model:

• Formic Acid. OCOchem is selling green formic acid or green formate at a 10% discount to market price through 2025 with committed volumes in excess of 10,000 tons per year.
• CO2. OCOchem sells CO2 Conversion as a Service to customers at a price of $30/ton CO2 for clean high purity CO2 with company providing land, water and transport corridor access. Company receives all tax credit and offsets against their tax equity and new on-site supply of high purity industrial grade oxygen.

• OCOchem's technology is unique in being one of the first process at near industrial scale to convert CO2, water and electricity into a platform chemical and liquid hydrogen carrier, formic acid, at a lower cost than the existing fossil-based process.
• OCOchem's process is also different in that it is modular and mass produced, operates at standard temperature and pressure, and reflects a capital structure that declines with cumulative volume of production rather than size of plant.
• Formic acid is a volumetrically dense liquid, with high energy density, hydrogen dense, non flammable, non explosive, non toxic. If released it turns again in H2 and CO2.
• To date formate is moved with Milk Trucks.
• The carbon flex electrolyzer is specifically derived from the chloride industry. Basically OCOchem is using the CO2 as a substitute to enable the transport of H2 in a simple process. Then they developed a hydrogen reformer that separates the hydrogen and the CO2. The idea is that CO2 will be recirculated in the process. This makes the system carbo neutral.
• The Carbon Flux Electrolyzer (CEF) works in ambient conditions
• The CEF uses an electro-synthesis process, in a proprietary modular stack

OCOchem's process for making formic acid solves 3 separate industry problems.

CO2 Utilization. OCOchem converts captured CO2 into a value added product, formic acid, helping customers a) reduce CO2 emissions, b) generate incremental revenue and c) do so in a tax-advantaged way via the 45Q beneficial use provision.

*Green Hydrogen. * OCOchem's formic acid product is an energy dense and non-flammable liquid carrier of green hydrogen, enabling customers of distributed green hydrogen to a) buy delivered hydrogen at a 30-50% discount to gray or green compressed hydrogen, and b) store and move hydrogen more safely at standard temperatures and pressures without the risk of explosion (as formic acid is not flammable).

Formates for Enhanced Oil Recovery. OCOchem's sodium formate product can be used in secondary and tertiary oil wells providing oild field producers with a) a 50% less expensive source of formates, b) ability to sequester 3-10x more CO2 per unit volume, c) recover 100-150% more oil per same mass of CO2 and d) gravitationally assure permanent sequestration of CO2 without monitoring.