Japan has succeeded in producing oil from Water and Carbon Dioxide

    by yungandreww

    37 Comments

    1. SignificantDrawer374 on

      That’s neat, but it’s just a method of storing energy. Like how we can generated hydrogen and oxygen from electrolysis of water, but the energy you get out is no more than the energy it took to split it in the first place.

    2. Japan’s oil company ENEOS has become the first to succeed in producing synthetic fuel using only CO₂ from the air and water, without petroleum.

      they have produced hydrogen using renewable energy and synthesized it with CO₂, completing actual vehicle driving tests.

      it’s gaining attention as a carbon-neutral fuel that can be used as-is in existing internal combustion engines, they say.

    3. FuckPigeons2025 on

      We already know how to do this. It just requires energy. 
      When you burn hydrocarbons it releases heat, water and carbon dioxide. This is just the same reaction in reverse.

    4. jetfuelfarmr on

      Isn’t that just the Fisher-Tropsch process? If so, we’ve known about this for over 100 years. It’s not very energy efficient, which is why we don’t do it more.

    5. TheWiseMorpheous on

      Do not get excited too much, it does not mean we will get fuel from air in practice and definitely it can not be cheap.

      There is a big question about the amount of energy needed to be input into this process.

    6. Overall_Reputation83 on

      The only source I can find about this is on times of india. So I’m assuming this actually isn’t big news for some important reason.

    7. Germany made gasoline from coal during WW2 …. It was just incredibly energy inefficient and probably used more energy in the production process than what the synthetic oil provided. 

      But I suppose you can’t put a lump of coal inside a BF-109 

    8. if im not wrong it has been existing for a while its just that it looses energy when done so its not efficient at all

    9. important context on this.
      ENEOS did build a synthetic e fuel demonstration plant in Yokohama that produces fuel from CO₂ and water. it produces roughly 1 barrel per day.
      but in October 2025 ENEOS halted the CO₂ based program entirely due to costs being too high and shifted focus to biofuels instead.
      the breaking news! framing is recycled from 2024 when the demo plant first opened. The project is currently paused, not scaling.
      the science works. the economics don’t. those are two very different headlines.

      https://preview.redd.it/oerim3mebfsg1.jpeg?width=1536&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=da7d80ae58efd2b828f05f791ea86262f0ab569c

    10. Someslapdicknerd on

      ??? Pretty sure there was a research group out of Vancouver that was doing this for quite a while now.

    11. th3greenknight on

      Ok, but when you Burn the oil a week later the co2 is released again…. net effect 0..

    12. Markus_zockt on

      It was also developed in Germany six years ago by the company “[CAC Engineering GmbH](https://business-saxony.com/en/synthetic-petrol-from-chemnitz)”. It’s called “eFuel” and is actually already ready for the market. This means car manufacturers have tested it and it COULD be used in cars.

      At the moment, however, it makes absolutely no sense, because producing 1 litre of synthetic petrol consumes far too much energy. With the same amount of electricity (approx. 27 kWh) required to produce 1 litre of synthetic petrol, you could drive up to 200 km in an electric car.

    13. Guys….. There is no such thing as free energy.

      It will take more energy to bond the co2 with water than you will be able to extract.

      This is just different less effective energy storage.

      It’s cool. Don’t get me wrong. But it’s not a holy grail.

    14. StopCountingLikes on

      I have misunderstood what “oil” is my entire life. And now I’m too old to learn

    15. I too like to post a claim and random picture with no source, context, or explanation.

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