Oxidative dehydrogenation of alkanes to alkenes, and related system

A method of producing and separating an alkene, such as ethylene, from an alkane, such as ethane. The method comprises subjecting a feedstock comprising ethane to oxidative dehydrogenation to produce an ethylene stream. The ethylene stream is passed through a membrane separation unit to separate the ethylene from unreacted ethane in the ethylene stream. The ethylene is recovered from the membrane separation unit. A system configured to produce ethylene is also disclosed. The system comprises at least one ODH reactor, a heat management unit coupled to the at least one ODH reactor, and at least one membrane separation unit comprising at least one membrane. The ODH reactor is configured to convert ethane to ethylene. The heat management unit is configured to reduce a temperature of the ethylene. The at least one membrane is configured to separate the ethylene from unreacted ethane.