Scientists at ExxonMobil and Spain 's Instituto de Tecnologia Quimica have developed a new material capable of separating ethylene from ethane - known as cryogenic distillation - at room temperature , potentially reducing the energy required for the process by a quarter . The researchers discovered quartz , a silica zeolite with a heart - shaped structure , which acted like a chemical sieve , for the quartz molecules . The researchers said more research is needed to fully understand the potential of the zeolite process .
Scientists at ExxonMobil and Spain's Instituto de Tecnologia Quimica have developed a new material capable of separating ethylene from ethane - known as cryogenic distillation - at room temperature, potentially reducing the energy required for the process by a quarter. The researchers used ITQ-55, a silica zeolite with a heart-shaped structure, which acted like a chemical sieve, for the ethylene molecules. The teams said more work is needed to fully understand the potential of the zeolite material.