Device and method for conversion of carbon dioxide to hydrocarbon molecules

An electrochemical device for conversion of CO2 into hydrocarbon products comprising:

• a cell stack sandwiched between a first cover plate and a second cover plate, wherein the cell stack comprises at least one full cell comprising:
• a flow plate comprising inter-connected gas flow channels;
• a negatively-charged cathode catalytic reaction zone comprising a cathode;
• a membrane separator;
• a positively charged anode catalytic reaction zone comprising an anode and a porous Nickel alloy sheet of uniform pores in contact with the membrane separator;
• and
• a flow plate containing inter-connected liquid flow channels,
• wherein at least one of the first cover plate or second cover plate comprise:
• gas inlet ports connected with the inter-connected gas flow channels in the cell stack configured to introduce CO2-containing feed gas into the negatively-charged cathode catalytic reaction zone;
• and
• gas outlet ports connected with the inter-connected gas flow channels in the cell stack configured to discharge of gaseous products and un-converted feed gas;
• liquid inlet ports connected with the inter-connected liquid flow channels in the cell stack configured to introduce a liquid electrolyte solution into the positively charged anode catalytic reaction zone;
• and
• liquid outlet ports connected with the inter-connected liquid flow channels in the cell stack configured to discharge of oxygen product gas and liquid products;
• wherein the liquid electrolyte solution has pH greater than 7;
• wherein the electrochemical device allows operation at gas flow channel pressure higher than the liquid channel pressure at reaction temperature and under applied voltage between the cathode and the anode.