Low-Temp Molten-Salt Route Converts Plastic Waste Into Fuel

Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers report a molten-salt process using aluminum-chloride–based salts to convert polyethylene plastic waste into gasoline- and diesel-like fuels at temperatures below 200°C, achieving about 60% gasoline yield without noble-metal catalysts, organic solvents, or external hydrogen, offering a potentially scalable and energy-efficient alternative to pyrolysis—though water sensitivity remains a major challenge for scaling.