Electrochemical conversion of carbon dioxide to form an organic acid

1 . An electrochemical process for carbon dioxide conversion comprising:

feeding water to an electrolyzer to generate a first electrolyzed product stream comprising hydrogen and a second electrolyzed product stream comprising oxygen,

feeding an anode reactant comprising hydrogen to an anode comprising a quantity of anode catalyst;

feeding a cathode reactant comprising carbon dioxide to a cathode comprising a quantity of cathode catalyst;

feeding an inlet solution feed comprising water to a central flow compartment wherein the central flow compartment comprises macroreticular resin dispersed within a void space, and wherein an average diameter of said macroreticular resin is greater than about 120% of and less than about 170% of the width of said void space;

applying a voltage of and less than about 3.5 V between the anode and cathode; and

recovering a product solution comprising formic acid from an outlet of said central flow compartment, wherein a concentration of formic acid in an aqueous product solution is greater than about 9 wt % and less than about 50 wt %,

wherein said first electrolyzed product stream comprises said anode reactant.

2 . The process of claim 1 further comprising an anion exchange membrane interposed between said central flow compartment and said cathode, wherein the anion exchange membrane comprises a KOH treated polybenzimidazolium.

3 . The process of claim 2 wherein an average current density at the anion exchange membrane is at least about 20 mA/cm 2 , wherein the area in the denominator of the average current density is the area of a cathode gas diffusion electrode on which the cathode catalyst is disposed.

4 . The process of claim 1 , wherein the cathode catalyst comprises a metal comprising Sn and Bi.