I was under the impression that most ethane is already sourced to natural gas.
Most natural gas fields are 70~90% methane. Typically, up to 20 percent on top of that will ethane, propane and butane. CO2, Nitrogen, Hydrogen Sulfides may exist in lower percentages.
Some ethane is produced in refineries. It is more of a byproduct from the distillation and cracking, rather than a target production.
Many of the large shale gas fields are resulting in greater ethane production. With the larger production values of ethane already coming on board, multiple chemical plants are already going forward here in the US. We have discussed some of these on Free Republic this year.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2756876/posts
Ethane is more valuable than Methane. And if you can convert methane to ethane for less that the price differential, that is a good business model, providing the price difference remains greater than your cost, even after that technology is put in use.
But this vague articles reads more like a solution in search of a problem, and ignores much of what is already done today.
Ethane is different from ethylene. Ethylene has a double carbon bond and two less hydrogens.