“The technology works on polyolefin waste, the sort of plastic used for grocery bags, toys, and shrink wrap. This sort of plastic accounts for about 23% of plastic waste, according to researchers who describe the process in a paper published in Sustainable Chemistry and Engineering. The new technique uses a process called hydrothermal liquefaction, in which very high temperatures melt pellets of polyolefin and then dissolve them in water…”

Source: https://www.technologyreview.com/the-download/612935/a-new-chemical-process-could-turn-a-quarter-of-our-plastic-waste-into-clean-fuel/

Paper: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acssuschemeng.8b03841