Process for recovering methane from a gas stream comprising methane and ethylene

A process for recovering methane from a gas stream comprising methane and ethylene, comprising:

• a sorption step which comprises contacting the gas stream comprising methane and ethylene with a sorption agent which has a lower affinity for methane than for ethylene, resulting in sorption of ethylene and 0 to 25% of the methane by the sorption agent and in a methane gas stream comprising methane in an amount of 75 to 100% based on the amount of methane in the gas stream that is subjected to the sorption step;
• and
• a desorption step which comprises desorbing sorbed ethylene and sorbed methane resulting in a gas stream comprising ethylene and methane,
• a distillation step which comprises distilling the gas stream comprising ethylene and methane resulting from the desorption step, said distillation step resulting in a top stream comprising methane and a bottom stream comprising ethylene,
• wherein the gas stream that is subjected to the sorption step is derived from an oxidative coupling of methane process.