Richland, WA — June 30, 2025 — OCOchem today announced the completion of its prototype hydrogen formate reformer, dubbed the “H248” which uses sustainable hydrogen formate as a liquid hydrogen carrier fuel. The hydrogen formate reformer decomposes hydrogen formate to generate 99.99% pure green Hydrogen which can be used in industrial, transportation or fuel cell power generation equipment.
This announcement comes on the heels of the company’s recent landmark achievement for carbon utilization and sustainable formate production. In May the company announced the successful start-up and commissioning of the world’s first pilot plant to produce hydrogen formate and otherformates using industrial scale electrolyzer cells using only carbon dioxide and water as feedstocks.
The combination of these two achievements demonstrates an end-to-end circular process for a) making hydrogen formate from recycled CO2 and water and b) generating ready-to-use high-purity hydrogen from hydrogen formate.
The Hydrogen Formate Reformer prototype uses standard commercial-grade shelf-stable 85 wt.% formic acid. Previously, only 100wt.% or glacial formic acid had been demonstrated but were more expensive and less stable.
“The circle is now closed. Hydrogen can now be made, stored, moved and used more safely and affordably by using sustainably made hydrogen formate as a liquid hydrogen carrier for use as a distributed fuel or feedstock.”
CEO and OCOchem co-founder Todd Brix
In addition, the H248 Reformer prototype uses a heterogenous (i.e., a solid catalyst) rather than a homogenous (dissolved liquid) catalyst, which improves performance, durability and efficiency while reducing cost and improving reliability. The reformer catalyst and reactor design were developed by a team of research scientists at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.
The impact is that the Reformer prototype produces ultra-high purity fuel cell grade hydrogen purity of 99.99 wt.% which is compatible with all hydrogen consuming applications.
Adds Brix: “Safety-wise Hydrogen Formate is a much better way to “carry” hydrogen as the hydrogen in formate is chemically bonded together as a stable non-explosive liquid moved at room temperature and pressure. In contrast, most hydrogen is moved in a highly compressed or cryogenically liquefied form of molecular H2. Furthermore, its more affordable because the cost of storing and moving hydrogen embodied in a liquid carrier is 10-20 times less expensive, than as a compressed explosive gas.”
Brix observes: “It’s always been strange to me, this focus on hydrogen production cost, which is only a small percentage of the total delivered cost. If you really want to lower the cost of delivered hydrogen you should focus on the biggest cost driver, which is its storage and transport cost. That’s what a good liquid hydrogen carrier can do. It’s a lot like bottled water or soda, most of the cost is in the bottle and the cost to transport it, it is not the water or soda itself.”
The impacts and advantages of the OCOchem process to lower the cost of distributed hydrogen are many:
- Moves 3-4x more hydrogen per truckload than 250 bar compressed hydrogen itself.
- Moves hydrogen more safely as a non-explosive liquid which biodegrades back into CO2 and water if spilled.
- Moves hydrogen at a 10 to 20x lower cost than conventional methods of moving hydrogen around including the cost of the reformer.
OCOchem will partner with OEMs to scale and integrate the Hydrogen Formate Reformer into larger units for varied and higher consumption hydrogen uses like transportation power trains, microgrid power generators and industrial uses.
“We are excited to partner with OCOchem on this. We think hydrogen formate will be the way the world moves hydrogen and syngas around more safely and affordably for all kinds of distributed and off-grid fuel applications from microgrids and portable power generators, to vehicles and on-site chemical and fuel production. This approach is also much more sustainable when you make, as OCOchem does, hydrogen formate, from CO2 and water,” said Ian Kaye the CEO and Co-founder of, Möbivolt.
About OCOchem
OCOchem is a leading clean chemistry innovator that has pioneered technologies that convert carbon dioxide and water into renewable molecules and materials. Focusing on decarbonizing global supply chains and building a more sustainable industrial future, OCOchem is pursuing this goal by utilizing a novel approach that integrates proprietary electrochemical systems with cost-effective and easily scalable production methods. OCOchem is based in Richland, Washington, USA.
About Möbivolt
Based in Livermore, California USA, MöbiVolt was founded by energy experts who have transitioned energy storage products from the lab to fielded specialty applications. MöbiVolt was created to expand the footprint of hydrogen-based products in large scale industrial and military markets.
Media Contact:
Steven Gottlieb
(206) 427-9591
steven@gottliebgroup.consulting
