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Zhang Tong

More than 460 million tonnes of plastic is produced around the world each year, and the material’s resistance to degradation is fuelling growing concern about its environmental impact.
Traditional disposal routes – incineration and landfills – are not only wasteful but also highly polluting. However, a new chemical technique that converts discarded plastics into aviation fuel is now emerging as a promising and potentially low-cost solution.
Chinese researchers have proposed a technology that can convert waste plastics into aviation fuel at a low cost.
The research, conducted by a joint team from the Shanghai Advanced Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Fudan University, involves the hydrogenolysis of polyolefins. The reaction operates under relatively mild conditions and offers tunable product selectivity, allowing researchers to steer the conversion towards desired hydrocarbon ranges.
Polyolefins – mainly polythene and polypropylene – account for over 60 per cent of plastic waste and have long chains of hydrocarbons that, if broken down, could become the C8-C16 hydrocarbons that form the backbone of aviation fuel.
However, polyolefins are also highly stable, meaning they do not easily undergo chemical reactions.
At the heart of this chemistry lie metal catalysts, which provide the active sites for selectively cleaving and rearranging carbon‑carbon bonds. However, a basic challenge has long plagued this route.
In polyolefin hydrogenolysis, terminal C-C bonds at the ends of molecular chains break far more readily than internal ones, largely generating gaseous by-products such as methane rather than the desired liquid fuels.


Building on work that began in 2023, the team established a viable reaction pathway for the targeted breakdown of polyolefins into C8-C16 jet fuel components. Going a step further, they have created a new catalyst containing both cobalt and nickel.
The introduction of cobalt fine-tunes the internal electronic state of nickel, boosting its catalytic efficiency in activating hydrogen and breaking down long carbon chains – all while preventing excessive fragmentation that would spoil the product slate.
As a result, the catalyst excels at steering the reaction towards medium‑sized C8-C16 hydrocarbons, according to their study.
The process delivered an impressive liquid yield of 82.3 per cent and a high selectivity of 79 per cent towards C8-C16 alkanes under mild conditions.
Importantly, unlike earlier approaches that relied on expensive noble metals and were difficult to industrialise, both nickel and cobalt are abundant, cost‑effective elements – a critical advantage for any future large‑scale deployment.
Yet practical hurdles remain. The performance data is still at the laboratory scale and much work is needed to scale up the process for industrial reactors. Effective pre-treatment of waste feedstock will also be essential, because impurities can easily poison the catalyst and cause rapid deactivation.
Life‑cycle assessment further indicates that when powered by renewable energy, this process can slash greenhouse gas emissions by 80 per cent compared with conventional production routes. This highlights its potential for increasing the value of plastic waste as well as advancing green energy conversion.


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China

The world produces 460 million tonnes of plastic a year, creating a devastating environmental problem. China may have an answer


The world produces 460 million tonnes of plastic a year, creating a devastating environmental problem. China may have an answer.


Shanghai

Chinese Academy of Social Sciences

Fudan University

China can turn plastic waste to jet fuel at a low cost: study

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}The world produces 460 million tonnes of plastic a year, creating a devastating environmental problem. China may have an answer

The world produces 460 million tonnes of plastic a year, creating a devastating environmental problem. China may have an answer