Chinese scientists pioneer industrial process to convert CO₂ into jet fuel

Chinese scientists have developed an industrial pathway for converting carbon dioxide directly into jet fuel using an inexpensive iron-based catalyst, according to research published by the Shanghai Advanced Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Global jet fuel prices have more than doubled in the past year and accelerated more since the Gulf war broke out two months ago. Airlines around the world are planning to reduce or suspend flights as stocks of jet fuel begin to run low.

Global jet fuel prices surged to $175 a barrel in March — a y/y increase of 94.4% — and broke through the $200 mark in April as energy prices spiked amid the Iran war. The price surge has forced airlines to cancel flights and raised urgent questions about the aviation industry's dependence on fossil fuel supply chains running through the Strait of Hormuz.

The Chinese innovation is to simply build a long carbon chain into an oil product using CO₂  as the building blocks. The CAS team's process uses an iron-manganese-potassium catalyst to convert CO₂ and hydrogen directly into long-chain molecules in the C8-C16 range — the molecular weight bracket that characterises conventional jet fuel.

The catalyst achieved a CO₂ conversion rate of 38.2% with selectivity to jet fuel-range hydrocarbons of 47.8%. Crucially for industrial applications, the catalyst maintained its performance through an 800-hour continuous run — a signal that the technology may be ready to move out of the labouratory and onto the factory floor. A CAS statement described the study as providing "a simple strategy for making high-carbon olefins and jet fuel-range products with unprecedented efficiency."

The process, known as CO₂ hydrogenation via modified Fischer-Tropsch synthesis, effectively runs combustion in reverse: rather than burning hydrocarbons to produce CO₂ and water, it combines CO₂ and water-derived hydrogen to produce hydrocarbons. The hydrogen feedstock must itself be produced from low-carbon sources — electrolysis powered by renewable electricity being the primary candidate, otherwise known as green hydrogen — for the fuel to qualify as sustainable aviation fuel under international standards.

Commercialisation is already under way. Feynman Dynamics, a start-up founded by Hu Shi, a professor at Tianjin University, has signed an agreement with the government of the Inner Mongolia autonomous region to build a facility capable of producing 3,000 tonnes of electro-synthesised sustainable aviation fuel annually.

Hu cautioned that "turning clever lab chemistry into certified jet fuel would be a separate marathon" — a reference to the rigorous ASTM certification process that sustainable aviation fuels must pass before they can be used commercially in aircraft.

3,000 tonnes represents a tiny fraction of global aviation fuel demand — the world's airlines consume approximately 300mn tonnes annually — but it would establish an operational reference plant demonstrating industrial feasibility at scale, which is a prerequisite for securing the larger investment needed to expand production.

The research arrives as the sustainable aviation fuel industry faces competing pressures. The Iran war's disruption to fossil fuel markets has dramatically improved the economics of SAF alternatives that were previously uncompetitive on price — at $200 a barrel for conventional jet fuel, the cost disadvantage of synthetic fuels narrows substantially. At the same time, the hydrogen supply chains required for CO₂ hydrogenation depend on cheap renewable electricity, which China's rapidly expanding solar and wind capacity is increasingly able to provide.

The CAS breakthrough is one of several competing pathways to synthetic jet fuel, including biomass-derived routes and direct air capture combined with Fischer-Tropsch synthesis. The iron-based catalyst approach is notable for its relative simplicity and low material cost compared with catalysts that rely on precious metals.