Researchers at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory developed a method to convert a commonly discarded hydrocarbon polymer into gasoline- and diesel-like fuels. The team has applied for a patent for the discovery, which treats polyethylene—the stuff of white cutting boards and shopping bags—with aluminum chloride-containing molten salts that serve as both solvent and catalyst. The results are published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

AI summaries can be wrong sometimes—always verify important details using the source link below.