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Chinese scientists pioneer industrial process to convert CO₂ into jet fuel (www.intellinews.com)
submitted 6 months ago by to c/technology@lemmy.ml
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[–] 3 points 6 months ago (1 child)

Not shown: it takes 10 tons of coal for every ton of jet fuel.

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    • [–] 3 points 6 months ago (1 child)

    From what simple I understand, undoing combustion is as inconvenient as it is combusting it. The more energy a combustion outputs, the more difficult it is to undo it. But if they've found a catalyst to pull it off then I'm hopeful that it could work and maybe bring progress

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  • [–] [S] 4 points 6 months ago

    I'm guessing a big part of it is also having energy independence, and if the input energy comes from renewables or nuclear then it might actually end up being carbon neutral.

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    • [–] 2 points 6 months ago (5 children)

    If this takes off how soon till the USA is over there bombing and trying to overthrow china?

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  • [–] [S] 8 points 6 months ago (4 children)

    The US can't touch China because it's a nuclear superpower, and it produces critical inputs for the US economy. All China has to do is ban exports to the US, and American economy will collapse overnight. We already saw a preview of that during the tariff war.

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  • [–] 3 points 6 months ago (3 children)

    I am well aware, but currently the people making these decisions dont have more perspective then what is infront of their nose. And if they are willing to jump when Isreal says too, then why not when exxon said too.

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    • [–] 2 points 6 months ago (6 children)

    @yogthos@lemmy.ml, since you're our resident China expert, I thought I'd ask: do you know if any of the PRC's companies are working on (or have even already solved!) the "plastics problem?" With regard to pollution, recycling, etc. I do remember their National Sword policy...🤔

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  • [–] [S] 12 points 6 months ago (5 children)

    China is shifting to a "non-waste" system, aiming for holistic lifecycle management of plastics. New national targets for 2030 include raising recycled plastic production to 19.5 million tons and increasing the use of recycled materials in cars, electronics, and packaging. https://www.plasticsnews.com/public-policy/sp-china-action-plan-recycled-plastics-2030/

    There's also a new green consumption drive http://www.china.org.cn/2026-01/07/content_118266914.shtml

    and a major push to shift to high value, closed loop recycling (you'd need to run the link through a translator) https://www.mj.org.cn/mjfc/mtjj/202603/t20260326_305587.htm

    Another interesting development is an effort to achieve sustainable reuse polyethylene terephthalate, a plastic in bottles, packaging, and textiles https://www.thecooldown.com/green-tech/break-down-plastic-waste-recycling-chemical-process-china/

    and to transform toxic industrial waste gas into hydrogen fuel https://en.people.cn/n3/2026/0109/c90000-20412332.html

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  • [–] 6 points 6 months ago (1 child)

    Plastic is a hard problem to solve since meaningfully recycling most of it requires a expensive energy and chemical inputs.

    Also, I'm running into some weird math. Doing some light searching, China’s plastic consumption demand will reach a peak at 119 million tons in 2030. That means their recycling target will be able to meet 16% of total plastic demand in China, but for comparison, China recycles 17% of it's plastic today. I doubt China is aiming for plastic recycling to remain about the same if it's supposed to be a new national target - I guess they might not be looking to increase the percentage of recycled plastic and are only interested in keeping up with demand? Or, probably likely, something is wrong with my sources because I can't get behind paywalls. 🤷‍♀️

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  • [–] 1 point 6 months ago (1 child)

    Genuine question - is there anything being done about - or do they even recognise - the insane overuse of plastic packaging?

    I love China, but one thing that drives me nuts is produce bring completely unnecessarily individually wrapped in plastic, then nestled in a plastoc tray, that is itself then wrapped in more plastic...

    In other words, is there any plan for "reduce", not just "reuse, recycle"?

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  • [–] [S] 4 points 5 months ago

    I've noticed this is a general phenomenon in Asia unfortunately. Everything gets wrapped in plastic completely needlessly. As far as I know there isn't really any serious effort to combat that.

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