Carbon dioxide can be turned into jet fuel, but not by 1 Shanghai startup
Carbon dioxide, the greenhouse gas that traps heat in the atmosphere, can be turned into jet fuel, and 2 separate teams in China are proving that in 2 different ways, not 1 Shanghai startup as early reporting described. The Shanghai Advanced Research Institute, part of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, is a national government research institute, not a company, testing a route that reacts carbon dioxide directly with hydrogen made using renewable electricity, called green hydrogen. A separate, real company, Feynman Dynamics, is headquartered in the Jinnan District of Tianjin, not Shanghai, using a different chemical process. Only the company has fuel cleared for a plane to legally burn.
A Shanghai government institute still has no certified fuel
The website of the Shanghai institute, read directly for this article, describes an ongoing, named research program inside its low carbon catalysis laboratory, not a single result. In an April 2026 study published in the journal ACS Catalysis, the team ran carbon dioxide over an iron catalyst, a substance that speeds a chemical reaction without being used up, modified with potassium and aluminum, at 330 degrees Celsius. The catalyst produced heavy hydrocarbons, the long carbon chain molecules that make up liquid fuel, at 453.7 milligrams per gram of catalyst every hour, with 252.7 milligrams per gram every hour falling specifically in the jet fuel range. It ran continuously for 800 hours without losing performance. No source describes this route as certified for an aircraft yet.
These 2 figures come from the same April 2026 catalyst test at the Shanghai Advanced Research Institute, reported as 2 separate measurements, not combined into 1 ratio calculated for this article.
Show the numbers
| Heavy hydrocarbons | 453.7 |
| Jet fuel range | 252.7 |
A later study shows a sustained research program, not 1 result
The institute published a second, later study in August 2026, using a different catalyst and a mixed carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide feed rather than carbon dioxide alone. That test converted 61.8% of the carbon monoxide fed into it, reached 73.2% selectivity toward gasoline and diesel range fuel, meaning most of the output was usable fuel, not waste, and 50.9% of that fuel fell specifically in the jet fuel range. It ran stable beyond 1,000 hours. The 2 studies use different chemistry and feedstock and are not 1 improving result, but together show a sustained research program, not a single result that never gets followed up.
These 3 figures describe a separate, later August 2026 study by the same institute, using a different catalyst and a mixed carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide feed. They are not comparable to the April 2026 figures earlier in this article.
Show the numbers
| Carbon monoxide conversion | 61.8 |
| Selectivity to gasoline and diesel | 73.2 |
| Jet fuel share of that product | 50.9 |
A Tianjin startup already has jet fuel that is certified to fly
Feynman Dynamics, founded by Tianjin University professor Hu Shi, uses a different chemical path that already has that certification. Instead of reacting carbon dioxide with hydrogen, the company first splits carbon dioxide into carbon monoxide using renewable electricity, then runs that carbon monoxide through Fischer Tropsch synthesis, a fuel making process the oil and chemical industry has used for decades to turn gas mixtures into liquid fuel. Hu Shi states the difference plainly.
The aviation industry requires airworthiness certification to confirm both safety and sustainability, and right now the industry does not recognise fuel made via carbon dioxide hydrogenation.
Hu Shi, founder of Feynman Dynamics and a professor at Tianjin University. Source 1.
What Feynman Dynamics is making is real jet fuel that has gone through that airworthiness certification.
Hu Shi, founder of Feynman Dynamics and a professor at Tianjin University. Source 1.
The company has agreed to build a plant in Inner Mongolia designed to make 3,000 tonnes a year of jet fuel this way, though no source describes that plant as built or producing fuel yet.
The certification gap matters because jet fuel prices are climbing
The difference between certified and uncertified fuel matters because jet fuel is getting more expensive. A barrel cost 175 dollars in March 2026 and passed 200 dollars in April 2026. Feynman Dynamics states its own target of cutting the cost of its carbon dioxide based fuel to 1,500 dollars a tonne by 2035, a stated goal rather than a price anyone pays today, and claims a lifecycle emissions cut of over 90% against conventional jet fuel. Both figures are claims the company makes about itself, not independently verified numbers.