China’s new method turns stubborn plastic waste into jet fuel with 82% yield 54%
By Mrigakshi Dixit70%
7/20/2026, 9:26:25 AM
BS Summary: This article contains 21 faulty reasoning types, including Negativity Bias, Hasty Generalization, and Appeal to Authority, with Ambiguity (Equivocation) as the most egregious example at 18.4% saturation with 108 hits. Analysis detected 1,055 faulty-reasoning hits from 586 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 53% and a BS Rank of 54% (8,691 of 18,822 articles). This article is worse (more manipulative) than 53.80% of the article peer group.
Driven by the urgent need to clean up the planet and power the future, the race to convert discarded plastic into functional fuel is gaining rapid traction worldwide.
While various global universities have successfully experimented with this concept over the years, a new study from China has reportedly showcased a low-cost chemical method.
Focusing on the hydrogenolysis of polyolefins, this research uses a reaction that operates under relatively mild conditions.
The chemical process breaks down polyolefins and transforms them into aviation fuel.
However, the research conducted by Fudan University, in partnership with the Shanghai Advanced Research Institute, is not yet completely ready for practical use.
Targeting the hardest waste – plastic
With global plastic production now exceeding 460 million tonnes annually, the material’s extreme resistance to degradation has raised serious environmental concerns.
Polyolefins make up most of the global plastic waste.
It is the family of plastics behind common items like grocery bags and shampoo bottles.
Plastics and fossil fuels share a fundamental chemical trait, being composed of the exact same building blocks.
Plastics are created by linking petroleum-derived carbon and hydrogen atoms into incredibly long, tough molecular chains called polymers.
Turning plastic back into fuel is essentially a process of reverse engineering — using heat and chemistry to chop those massive chains back down into short, usable fuel molecules.
Jet fuel uses hydrocarbons containing between 8 and 16 carbon atoms (C8–C16).
Until now, attempting to break down plastic chemically has resulted in an erratic mess.
The terminal bonds at the absolute ends of the molecular chains would shatter first.
This fundamental chemistry issue meant that previous experiments predominantly yielded gases such as methane, rather than the liquid fuel required by commercial airlines.
The South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported that the team solved this by inventing a custom catalyst that pairs cobalt with nickel.
In this architectural duo, the cobalt fine-tunes the internal electronic state of the nickel.
The shift boosts the catalyst’s efficiency to activate hydrogen and selectively cleave the internal carbon bonds of the plastic.
It slices the molecular chains into the target medium-sized range while completely preventing the over-fragmentation that creates gas.
The lab results showcased that the process delivered a liquid yield of 82.3 percent under mild reaction conditions.
Reportedly, it achieved 79 percent selectivity toward aviation-grade C8–C16 alkanes.
Various hurdle remains
One major industrial advantage is the use of cobalt and nickel.
Both are highly abundant, dirt-cheap elements.
Previous iterations of plastic-to-fuel chemistry mostly used prohibitively expensive noble metals such as platinum or ruthenium.
In addition to the economic advantages, this chemical recycling method offers environmental benefits.
A comprehensive life-cycle assessment revealed that when operations are powered by renewable energy, the process could cut greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent compared to conventional fossil-based fuel production.
The hurdle now is scaling up.
What works perfectly inside a glass laboratory flask faces unpredictable engineering challenges when transferred to massive industrial reactors.
Furthermore, real-world plastic waste is dirty.
The researchers note that developing robust pre-treatment systems will be vital, as everyday impurities can quickly poison and deactivate the sensitive metal catalyst .
Currently, plastic-to-jet fuel technology is strictly in the pilot and rigorous testing phase.
The closest the industry has come to practical application includes: Clean Planet Technologies opened the world’s first dedicated waste-plastics-to-SAF pilot facility in Kent, UK.
Therefore, there is still significant engineering work to be done before a passenger plane takes off fueled by grocery bags.
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