Following the theoretical protocol described by Fortescue and Lo [Fortescue B and Lo H K 2007 Phys. Rev. Lett. 98 260501], we present a scheme in which one can distill maximally entangled bi-partite states from a tri-partite W state with cavity QED. Our scheme enables the concrete physical system to realize its protocol. In our scheme, the rate distillation also asymptotically approaches one. Based on the present cavity QED techniques, we discuss the experimental feasibility.