Hydrocarbon Processing - March 2022 - 63

Industry Pioneers
VLADIMIR IPATIEFF
Vladimir Nikolayevich Ipatieff was a
Russian and American chemist who
made significant contributions to the
field of petroleum chemistry and catalysis.
Ipatieff made the important discovery
that chemical reactions were influenced
by the walls of the container in
which they were taking place. One of his
noted reaction discoveries was when he
found that alcohol flowing through a heated iron reaction coil
caused primary, secondary and tertiary alcohols to be dehydrogenated
producing aldehydes, ketones and alkenes, respectively.
This reaction was absent when the same alcohol was flowing
through a quartz tube. He called this phenomenon 'contact reactions,'
which we now know as heterogeneous catalysis.
Ipatieff discovered that catalyst efficiency could be enhanced
by dispersing catalyst particles on inert support and including
small amounts of zinc or copper on the support. Most industrial
reactions employ catalysts dispersed on support, along with
additives or promoters. He also demonstrated that -alumina
can function as an effective dehydration catalyst, especially in
ethanol to ethylene reactions. This discovery led to the development
of methods for converting ethanol to alkenes, such as
butadiene, which is used in the manufacture of rubber. In the
1940s, these processes were used in the commercial production
of butadiene and are still being used today.
Ipateiff made another seminal innovation in chemistry by
developing high-pressure autoclaves, often referred to as 'Ipatieff
bombs.'8
Ipatieff used these high-pressure autoclaves to synthesize
commodity chemicals in processes that were significantly
less expensive than traditional methods. He published more
than 300 research papers and received more than 200 patents.9
Ipateiff's work at UOP-in collaboration with Herman Pines,
especially their breakthrough in fuel chemistry-is his most significant
contribution to petroleum chemistry and refining.
HERMAN PINES
Herman Pines was a Polish-American
chemist whose work in understanding the
chemistry of hydrocarbons and catalysis
laid the groundwork for producing highoctane
fuels. Paraffins were considered inert
substances, with little or no reaction affinity.
His research led to the development
of processes for paraffin isomerization, aromatic
alkylation and base-catalyzed organic reactions. Pines developed
a method for catalytic conversion of paraffins, such as
n-butane to isobutane. He also demonstrated low temperatures
catalysis by successfully reacting isobutane with olefins in the
presence of sulfuric acid as a catalyst at low temperatures. The
combination of isomerization and alkylation proved to be the
breakthrough in developing high-octane fuel initially for aviation
and later commercialization in 1941.10
Pines joined UOP in 1930, which began his long collaboration
with Dr. Vladimir Ipatieff.11
complex reactions affected by temperature, acid concentration
and ratio of acid relative to other compounds. Pines used pure
hydrocarbons in his research instead of petroleum fractions to
understand mechanisms for dehydration of alcohols on alumina,
aromatization of alkanes, hydrogen transfer reactions in aromatic
hydrocarbons and several other acid and base catalyzed
hydrogenation, aromatization and dehydrogenation reactions.
Pines' research team studied a variety of transformations, including
polymerization, alkylation, cyclization, additions, eliminations
and hydride transfer reactions. Upon leaving UOP in
1953, he continued working on understanding and describing
hydrocarbon reaction mechanisms and heterogenous catalysis
at Northwestern University as the Ipatieff Professor. He published
nearly 265 scientific papers and received 145 patents.10
VLADIMIR HAENSEL
Vladimir Haensel was an American
chemical engineer most known for his
invention of the Platforming process-a
platinum catalyzed process for reforming
hydrocarbons into gasoline. In 1947, he
demonstrated that 0.01 platinum on alumina
can be used as a stable, active and
effective catalyst with long life and high
in situ regeneration efficiency.12
Platinum
on alumina functioned as a dual-functional catalyst, where
platinum provides excellent hydrogenation and dehydrogenation
activity and the unsaturated hydrocarbons formed could
be isomerized to rings on the acidic alumina. Associated major
process advantages were a high yield of hydrogen, a valuable
and environmentally friendly product aiding sulfur removal and
high yield of aromatics, valuable for downstream plastics and
petrochemicals industries.
Haensel's method for producing high-octane fuel eliminated
tetraethyl lead as an anti-knock additive; made transportation
fuel efficient, cheaper and environment friendly; and replaced
toxic coal tar processing by generating an aromatics pool for
the plastics industry. Haensel is also known for the program he
established as Director of Research at UOP,13
which led to the
development of catalytic converters for automobiles.
J. R. WHINFIELD AND J. T. DICKSON
John Rex Whinfield (left)
and James Tennant Dickson
(right) investigated thermoplastic
polyesters while working
in the laboratories of the
Calico Printers' Association
Ltd. from 1939-1941.14
produced and patented the
first polyester fiber in 1941, named Terylene, which equaled or
even surpassed the toughness and resilience of nylon.
In the late 1930s, there was significant emphasis on finding an
They worked on understanding
alternative to Carother's aliphatic nylon fiber. Aromatic polyesters
had remained largely unexplored during this time. By 1939,
there was enough research evidence to support micro crystallinity
as essential for the formation of strong synthetic fibers.
The need for molecular symmetry in forming microcrystalline
Hydrocarbon Processing | MARCH 2022 63
They
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