News on China's scientific and technological development.

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Nutrient

Junior Member
Registered Member
ansy1968 said:
Is China the only country doing research in this field?

from CnTechPost

China makes major breakthrough in converting solar energy into liquid fuel​

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March 15, 2021
China has made a breakthrough in converting solar energy into liquid fuels, with a project producing a liquid product with 99.5% methanol content, according to
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.
The success, which was achieved in January 2020 and recently received CCTV coverage, is the first attempt to synthesize direct solar fuels on a global scale.
The project, if operating at full capacity, could produce 1,500 tons of methanol per year, consume 2,000 tons of CO2 and generate 15 million kWh of electricity using solar energy, the report said, citing experts.
China's annual methanol production capacity is about 80 million tons, and in 2019, China accounted for 29 percent of global CO2 emissions. If solar fuel is used to synthesize methanol, hundreds of millions of tons of CO2 can be reduced each year.
The research work on "artificial photosynthesis for solar fuels production" started in 2001: the first step is to turn light into energy in the form of photovoltaic power, the second step is to electrolyze water to make hydrogen, and the third step is to hydrogenate carbon dioxide to make methanol.

Researchers have calculated that each ton of hydrogen produced by electrolysis of water is equivalent to 33,000 kWh of electricity stored. Converting electrical energy into chemical energy is the most efficient chemical energy storage reaction.
If methanol is used as a fuel instead of coal, PM2.5 emissions will be reduced by more than 80% and NOx by more than 90%.
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in CnTechPost.

Not as much detail as I would like. Who were the researchers, where? And how does hydrogen get converted to methanol? Does the method need pure, distilled water, or can it use seawater? How long does it take to synthesize a kilogram of methanol?

Note that the announcement of success came on January 2020, but the research project began in 2001. So it took almost twenty years.
 
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PiSigma

PiSigma

"the engineer"
voyager1 said:
Guys I wouldn't pay too much attention on news articles regarding research projects. Research takes times to become commercialised and when it does, most of the time it needs another 1-2 versions to become economically viable.
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I specialize in commercializing new tech for work, and designing pilots. It's typically a 10 year turn around from planning the pilot to first commercial facility. It could go even longer depending on the technology (the more novel the tech, the longer it takes) and the cost.

For the technology to be fully commercialized with bugs worked out, it normally takes another 3-5 years with operating experience.
 
horse

horse

Colonel
Registered Member
Tyler said:
They should make sure apple and samsung are paying for using Huawei's 5G patents. The world should know that Huawei is the leader in 5G, not apple at all.
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I would believe the best way to go about it now is to keep their mouths shut.

Shenzhen announced they had completed their standalone 5G network. About 3 weeks later, Beijing announced they had completed their standalone 5G network. Then the trade war or tech war heated up. China went silent.

Right now, with the silence, the Americans are clueless on the state of Chinese networks in the 5G jungle.

They are going to get ambushed.
 
O

OppositeDay

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Pinduoduo founder Huang Zheng has stepped down as chairman to pursue research in agriculture and life sciences.

Chinese tech billionaires have a huge public image problem in recent months and Huang was ruthlessly mocked for taking Pinduoduo into the fresh produce distribution business. There's a saying on the Chinese internet "American tech billionaires are busy sending rockets to Mars, Chinese tech billionaires are busy eating vegetable sellers' lunch".

I guess Huang finally see the light. Quotes from his final letter to investors

the intensifying, and to a certain extent, distorted competition in some area has made me realize that the traditional approach of competing through scale and efficiency has its inevitable limitations. To change this, we must take action on deeper and more fundamental issues and seek answers from core technologies and the fundamental theories that underpin them.
...
What will I be doing after stepping down? I want to work on research in the fields of food sciences and life sciences. Pinduoduo has its roots in agriculture. In the past years, Pinduoduo’s contribution in agriculture has been mainly in downstream distribution and improving midstream supply chain efficiency. We have created greater income for farmers and savings for consumers by streamlining the supply chain and matching supply and demand more efficiently. However, improved efficiency in distribution and sales still does not fundamentally add value to agricultural products, nor inherently improve our health significantly.
...
When we are young, our teachers always ask us what we aspire to become when we grow up. Like many others, I declared that I wanted to be a scientist. Alas, in the blink of an eye, I am already in my forties. It is probably unlikely for me to become a true scientist. But if I work hard and combine the chemistry that I loved in high school, the computer science that I learnt in university, and the operation experiences I acquired at work, maybe I can still make something meaningful happen. Though I can no longer become a true scientist myself, I would feel very lucky and blessed if I have the chance to become a research assistant to a future, possibly great, scientist.
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There's a lot of truth to Huang's letter. Improving efficiency of the supply chain is important, but ultimately what bring humanity forward are novel, groundbreaking products.

The commentator Ning Nanshan has written an article (in Chinese) calling for China's tech giants to do the "diffcult things" rather than always competing for the lowest hanging fruits.
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I hope Huang can stay true to what he said in his letter and make contribution, in his own ways, to the advancement of life sciences and their applications.
 
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