China has successfully built and tested a distillation plant that converts carbon dioxide into biofuel with the highest efficiency, Chinese media reported.
The facility was designed by a group of Chinese scientists from the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics (DICP). Scientists described the chemical reaction in the presence of metal catalysts in the journal Nature Communications back in 2017.
Furthermore, specialists from Zhuhai Futian Energy Technology created the installation and implemented the experiment at the suggestion of the China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation (CPCIF).
Chinese authorities built the test facility in Zoucheng Industrial Park in 2020. In October 2021, the installation went operational, and it worked for 72 hours.
During the CO2 hydrogenation reaction, about 95% of carbon dioxide was converted into liquid fuel with an octane rating of 90, in line with China’s national standard VI.
The pilot plant can produce 1000 tons of such fuel per year. According to Chinese media, the technical process is quite complicated, but it requires so little energy to maintain that this method has commercial prospects.