The oxidative dimerization of aryl methanes in organic solvents by using alkaline catalysts is an important way to prepare diphenyl ethanes and diphenyl ethylenes.
Ethane cracker plastic production plant, for example, in Scotland, that was down to 40% capacity, because there wasn't enough ethane in Europe to run it.
According to one report the carbon emissions from the cracking of ethane and an alternative ingredient called naphtha were equivalent to 52 coal-fired power plants in 2015.
So an ethane cracker is an absolutely enormous facility that uses a tremendous amount of energy to it's called crack the ethane molecules into ethylene, and then turn them into these tiny little plastic pellets.