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A team of chemical engineers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has invented a new process to separate crude oil components, potentially bringing forward a replacement that can cut its harmful carbon pollution by 90%.

The original technique, uses heat to separate crude oil into gasoline, diesel, and heating oil.

Instead of boiling mixtures to purify them, why not separate components based on shape and size?" said Zachary P. Smith, associate professor of chemical engineering at MIT and senior author of the study, per Interesting Engineering.

The team invented a polymer membrane that divides crude oil into its various uses like a sieve.

The new process follows a similar strategy used by the water industry for desalination, which uses reverse osmosis membranes and has been around since the 1970s.