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Recently, researchers at the Shanghai Advanced Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences have found a way to make jet fuel using a technology that can transform carbon dioxide and hydrogen and into long-chain hydrocarbons. The process doesn't actually turn these gases into jet fuel, but instead a primary ingredient for jet fuel, which is the next best thing.

The procedure researchers used is a process known as "reverse combustion," where carbon dioxide merges with hydrogen to form hydrocarbons. The key component of this particular incarnation is an iron-based catalyst, combined with potassium and aluminum additives. The catalyst provided a surface that sped up chemical reactions needed to build the long-chain hydrocarbons.…