China’s New Fuel Technology Could Make Oil Less Important Forever

Can China make fuel without extracting crude oil? A reported 1,000-tonne-per-year pilot in Shandong has demonstrated a route from carbon dioxide and hydrogen to gasoline. In this original Tomorrow Signal film, we follow the catalysts that build fuel molecules and the engineering needed to supply their hydrogen and energy at much larger scale. The investigation also explores separate work on aviation-range hydrocarbons, waste-plastic conversion, bamboo-based plastics, basalt fiber, molecular separation membranes and China’s experimental thorium molten-salt reactor. Together, these projects reveal different ways to make useful products, diversify feedstocks and reduce the energy needed for industrial processing. #chinaenergy #CO2tofuel #syntheticfuels