Scientists have made a surprising discovery that could slash the amount of energy used in oil refining by eliminating part of the high-temperature heating process required to separate the fractions of crude oil. The scientific breakthrough has found a simple and inexpensive way to separate crude oil molecules through a polymer membrane, radically different from previous attempts to fractionate crude oil via membranes. In previous studies of membrane-based fractionations, scientists believed a selective layer should be coated onto the surface to…