Skip to content
The methodOpen data
Back to the collection

Transforming carbon dioxide into jet fuel using an organic combustion-synthesized Fe-Mn-K catalyst

Benzhen Yao, Tiancun Xiao, Ofentse A. Makgae

Show all 14 authors

Xiangyu Jie, Sergio Gonzalez-Cortes, Shaoliang Guan, Angus I. Kirkland, Jonathan R. Dilworth, Hamid A. Al-Megren, Saeed M. Alshihri, Peter J. Dobson, Gari P. Owen, John M. Thomas, Peter P. Edwards

2020 · Nature Communications

Other research
Read the paper
HN score
0
Mentions
6
Readers
5
Months
3
What’s in a score?

From the abstract

Abstract With mounting concerns over climate change, the utilisation or conversion of carbon dioxide into sustainable, synthetic hydrocarbons fuels, most notably for transportation purposes, continues to attract worldwide interest. This is particularly true in the search for sustainable or renewable aviation fuels. These offer considerable potential since, instead of consuming fossil crude oil, the fuels are produced from carbon dioxide using sustainable renewable hydrogen and energy. We report here a synthetic protocol to the fixation of carbon dioxide by converting it directly into aviation jet fuel using novel, inexpensive iron-based catalysts. We prepare the Fe-Mn-K catalyst by the so-called Organic Combustion Method, and the catalyst shows a carbon dioxide conversion through hydrogenation to hydrocarbons in the aviation jet fuel range of 38.2%, with a yield of 17.2%, and a selectivity of 47.8%, and with an attendant low carbon monoxide (5.6%) and methane selectivity (10.4%). The conversion reaction also produces light olefins ethylene, propylene, and butenes, totalling a yield of 8.7%, which are important raw materials for the petrochemical industry and are presently also only obtained from fossil crude oil. As this carbon dioxide is extracted from air, and re-emitted from jet fuels when combusted in flight, the overall effect is a carbon-neutral fuel. This contrasts with jet fuels produced from hydrocarbon fossil sources where the combustion process unlocks the fossil carbon and places it into the atmosphere, in longevity, as aerial carbon - carbon dioxide.

Metadata: Crossref. Abstracts retain their original authors’ rights.

In the conversation

Original HN comments, with labels from simple text rules. A label describes the whole comment and may miss context or irony. Read the discussion to make up your own mind. About the labels

6 selected excerpts · 6 total mentions

photochemsyn
Neutral mention · rule
While the CEO isn't really clear in the article about the specific technology being used for the direct route, based on the other co-founders of the company and their publication record, it's probably found in this 2020 Nature paper (see Figure 5, 'Reaction Scheme for CO2 hydrogenation to jet fuel range hydrocarbons): https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-20214-z In the long run, international air travel is the most secure market for artificial photosynthesis-sourced long-chain hydrocarbons (rockets seem to be going to methane, though you can make RP-1 this way too). I do wonder how big a facility (counting all the wind turbines / solar panels / nuclear plants for the energy source) would be needed to provide all the fuel needed for a large busy international airport. (Heathrow consumes ~16,000 tons of jet fuel per day, for example).
Original comment Oxxcu, converting CO₂ into fuels, chemicals and plastics
westurner
Neutral mention · rule
"NIST Breakthrough: Simple Material Could Scrub Carbon Dioxide From Power Plant Smokestacks" (2022) https://scitechdaily.com/nist-breakthrough-simple-material-c... : > [What to do with all of the captured CO2?] >> - Generate more formic acid to capture more CO2 - Make protein powder (#Solein,). And nutrients and flavors? - Feed algae - Feed plants, greenhouses - CAES Compressed Air Energy Storage - Firefighting: https://twitter.com/westurner/status/1572664456210948104 - Make aerogels. Aerogels are useful for firefighter protective clothing, extremely lightweight insulation, extremely lightweight packing materials, aerospace; and no longer require supercritical drying to…
Read the full comment
produce: https://twitter.com/westurner/status/1572662622423584770?t=A... - Make hydrogels. Hydrogels are useful for: firefighting: https://www.google.com/search?q=hydrogel+firefighting https://twitter.com/westurner/status/1572664456210948104 - Make diamonds, buckyballs, fullerenes, graphene - Water filtration: activated carbon, nanoporous graphene Is there a similar process ("MOF,) for capturing Methane from flue gas? Is that before or after the CO2 capture? - Methane is worse for Earth than CO2 FWIU. And there are many uncapped wells leaking methane, as now visible from space: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33431427 - It's possible to make CBG Cleaner Burning Gasoline from methane (natural gas) How does the #CophenHill recycling and flue capture facility currently handle CO2 and Methane capture? - "Transforming carbon dioxide into jet fuel using an organic combustion-synthesized Fe-Mn-K catalyst." (2020) https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-20214-z https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25559414
Original comment Aluminum formate Al(HCOO)3: Earth-abundant, scalable, & material for CO2 capture
ttul
Neutral mention · rule
> Aside from blending small amounts on hydrogen in existing methane feeds, no one will do this. The province of Alberta, Canada has put hydrogen at the core of its energy development strategy. The idea is to use existing natural gas pipelines to transfer hydrogen. It’s true that a small fraction of hydrogen will permeate the pipes and leak; however, that leakage is not economically significant: “... this theoretical distribution main leakage rate (43 million ft3/yr) would be 0.0002% of the 24.13 trillion cubic feet of natural gas consumed in 2010.” [1] Hydrogen can be blended with natural gas (the above calculation was made assuming a 20% blend) or it can be sent down the…
Read the full comment
line exclusively. As for how the hydrogen is produced, there are several ways: 1. It can be cracked from natural gas, after which the carbon is captured and stored back underground. Or, 2. It can be produced from electrolysis of water using energy from a renewable source such as wind or solar, effectively storing the energy for later use. Either way, the point is that hydrogen is a useful fuel that can be transported over existing infrastructure and then used in a variety of ways that may help with the transition to a zero carbon system. Just to give one example, hydrogen can be combined with carbon dioxide to create jet fuel. [2] [1] https://www.energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2014/03/f11/blending... [2] https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-20214-z
Original comment Photocatalyst splits water into H and O2 at quantum efficiency near 100%
seltzered_
Neutral mention · rule
Actual nature article linked within wired post: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-20214-z Last one in the e-fuel space I was staring at was: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joule.2020.01.002 from Rob McGinnis of a startup called Prometheus. airminers.org lists other startups in this space. I'm still skeptical of it but curious to see what's out there.
Original comment Could Carbon Dioxide Be Turned into Jet Fuel?
westurner
Neutral mention · rule
Yao, B., Xiao, T., Makgae, O.A. et al. "Transforming carbon dioxide into jet fuel using an organic combustion-synthesized Fe-Mn-K catalyst." Nat Commun 11, 6395 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-20214-z
Original comment Scientists turn CO2 into jet fuel

Keep following the thread.

More in Other research

More from the same topics.