Income Taxes	3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2018
Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]
Income Taxes	Income Taxes The Company’s effective tax rate is 0% for the three-month periods ended March 31, 2018 and 2017, respectively. Effective January 1, 2018, the U.S. federal corporate income tax rate was reduced was 35 percent to 21 percent attributed to the impact of the H.R.1, "An Act for Reconciliation Pursuant to Titles II and V of the Concurrent Resolution on the Budget for Fiscal Year 2018" (previously known as "the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act") enacted into law on December 22, 2017. The Company's effective tax rate differs from the statutory federal tax rate of 21% for the three-month periods ended March 31, 2018 primarily due to a full valuation allowance recorded on our United States, China and Italy deferred tax assets since we cannot anticipate when or if we will have sufficient taxable income to utilize the deferred tax assets in the future. Further, our effective tax rate differs from the statutory federal tax rate due to state taxes, differences between U.S. and foreign tax rates, foreign losses incurred with no related tax benefit, non-deductible commissions, and non-deductible meals and entertainment expenses for the three- month periods ended March 31, 2018 and 2017. Fuel Tech had no unrecognized tax benefits as of March 31, 2018 and December 31, 2017.

Income Taxes

The Company’s effective tax rate is 0% for the three-month periods ended March 31, 2018 and 2017, respectively. Effective January 1, 2018, the U.S. federal corporate income tax rate was reduced was 35 percent to 21 percent attributed to the impact of the H.R.1, "An Act for Reconciliation Pursuant to Titles II and V of the Concurrent Resolution on the Budget for Fiscal Year 2018" (previously known as "the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act") enacted into law on December 22, 2017. The Company's effective tax rate differs from the statutory federal tax rate of 21% for the three-month periods ended March 31, 2018 primarily due to a full valuation allowance recorded on our United States, China and Italy deferred tax assets since we cannot anticipate when or if we will have sufficient taxable income to utilize the deferred tax assets in the future. Further, our effective tax rate differs from the statutory federal tax rate due to state taxes, differences between U.S. and foreign tax rates, foreign losses incurred with no related tax benefit, non-deductible commissions, and non-deductible meals and entertainment expenses for the three- month periods ended March 31, 2018 and 2017.

Fuel Tech had no unrecognized tax benefits as of March 31, 2018 and December 31, 2017.