Hydrocarbon Processing - March 2022 - 51

History of the HPI
TNT was used by Germany and other militaries
starting in the early 1900s.
According
to literature,55
Standard
Oil Development (the company would
later become Exxon) detected toluene in
product streams from thermal reforming
experiments on a petroleum-based naphtha.
This discovery led to a new source to
produce a significant amount of pure toluene.
However, the produced product did
not meet nitration-grade requirements.
Upon using catalytic reforming, the process
produced a 99+% toluene stream that
could be nitrated.55
From 1940-1945, toluene
production in the U.S. topped 484
MMgal, with nearly half being produced
by Standard Oil's subsidiary, Humble Oil
and Refining Co. Approximately 15% was
produced by Shell.56
This significant increase
in production enabled the Allied
powers to receive a steady stream of explosive
materials.
Synthetic rubber. Although the discovery
of synthetic rubber dates to the late
1870s (French chemist Gustave Bouchardat
created a polymer of isoprene), the
first true synthetic rubber was created and
patented by German chemist Fritz Hofmann
in the early 1900s.57
During WW2,
the Allies were nearly cutoff from supplies
of natural rubber-the Japanese occupied
rubber producing areas in Southeast Asia,
which represented 90% of the world's natural
rubber production.58
Without rubber,
Allied vehicles and planes could not be
built or repaired.
As a solution, the U.S. government
partnered with four rubber companies-
B. F. Goodrich, Firestone Tire and Rubber
Co., Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co, and
the U.S. Rubber Co. (the company would
later become Uniroyal)-to find a solution
to the rubber supply crises. However,
to produce synthetic rubber, butadiene-
its basic raw material-is needed. To produce
much-needed supplies of butadiene,
several U.S. refiners built new facilities to
produce the product that would be used
to increase synthetic rubber production.
Researchers at the four big tire companies
set out on new processes to increase
synthetic rubber production in
the U.S. In 1940, while working at B. F.
Goodrich, Waldo Semon-the inventor
of an improved process for PVC production-invented
a process for the copolymerization
of butadiene with methyl
methacrylate. The cost-effective synthetic
rubber produced was marketed under
the name Ameripol. Goodyear produced
its own synthetic rubber-the process
was patented by Ray Dinsmore-called
" Chemigum. " The other rubber companies
patented processes to increase synthetic
rubber production, as well.59
However, in 1942, synthetic rubber
producers were needed to boost production
to aid the Allied war effort. The four
rubber companies, along with the U.S.
government, agreed upon a common process
to produce synthetic rubber called
GR-S (government rubber styrene),
which was similar to Bina S developed
by Germany. By 1945, the U.S. increased
GR-S production to approximately
920,000 tpy.59
Due to this manufacturing
juggernaut, Allied forces did not suffer
from a shortfall in synthetic rubber for
military equipment and vehicles.
Cyanoacrylates. In 1942, Harry
Coover-while working at the Eastman
Kodak company in the U.S.-was conducting
experiments with cyanoacrylates.
He was attempting to develop materials to
build clear plastic gun sights for the Allies
in WW2. However, while working with
the materials, he noticed that it stuck to everything,
making it very difficult to work
with. According to literature, moisture
caused the chemicals to polymerize, and
since virtually all objects have a thin layer
of moisture on them, bonding would occur
in nearly every testing instance.60
Since
the material was highly adhesive, the researchers
rejected the commercial use of it.
It was not until 1951 that Coover and
fellow researcher Fred Joyner recognized
the potential of cyanoacrylates as a quick
bonding substance. His team was researching
heat-resistant polymers for jet
airplane canopies. These tests showed
the unique adhesive properties of cyanoacrylate-the
adhesive required no heat
or pressure to bond.60
Several years later,
Eastman Kodak sold the material as Eastman
910, later marketing the material as
it is known today: Super Glue. The material-still
in use today for many applications-has
a unique story in that it was
discovered by accident, twice.61
Silicones. Although discovered in the
1850s, commercial silicones research and
development would not take off until the
1930s. Early research was conducted by
American chemist James Franklin Hyde
while working at Corning Glass Works
(FIG. 4). By using English chemist Frederic
Stanley Kipping's procedure for creGallbergweg
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