Researchers find new way to recycle plastic waste into fuel

Researchers at the University of California, Irvine (UCI) have devised a new way of recycling plastic garbage into liquid fuel. They have figured out how to break down the strong bonds of polyethylene, the most common commercially available form of plastic. Their innovative technique centers on the use of alkanes, specific types of hydrocarbon molecules, to scramble and separate polymer molecules into other useful compounds. The team is still working on a few issues to make it more efficient. The substances needed for the new method are byproducts of oil refining, so they are readily available. An article about the research is published in Science Advances (News Item UCI, 21 June 2016).
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