Hydrocarbon Processing - May 2022 - 68

History of the HPI
synthetic oils were used for military and
commercial air travel.
It was not until the 1960s that the idea
of using synthetic oils in the automobile
industry could provide significant
benefits to engine performance. American
pilot and inventor Albert Amatuzio
conducted research in the 1960s on the
use of synthetic lubricants in automobile
engines. As a squadron commander
in the Minnesota Air National Guard
and WW2 fighter pilot (he flew America's
first operational fighter jet, the F80
Shooting Star),101
the benefits synthetic lubricants provided
aircraft engines. His goal was to find
a way for automobile engines to gain the
same lubricating benefits.
In 1966, Amatuzio formulated his first
synthetic motor oil, testing it in his colleague's
new 1966 Ford station wagon.98
After the successful test, he continued to
develop new synthetic oils and sell them
throughout the late 1960s under the name
AMSOIL. However, the public was slow
to adopt Amatuzio's new synthetic motor
oil despite the many benefits it provided
vs. conventional lubricating oils. The primary
challenge was price, as synthetic
motor oil costs several times more than
conventional motor oil.98
Seeking additional validation of performance
standards established by the
American Petroleum Institute (API) and
the Society of Automotive Engineers,
Amatuzio had his motor oil tested by a
third-party laboratory in 1972. After rigorous
tests, AMSOIL Synthetic Motor
Oil became the world's first synthetic motor
oil to meet API service requirements.98
This validation, along with major oil companies
producing their own synthetic lubricating
oils for the auto industry, would
eventually lead to widespread adoption of
synthetic motor oils for automobiles.
After Amatuzio's accreditation and
continued sales of his novel product, Mobil
followed suit, creating the first Mobil
1 fully synthetic motor oil in 1971-the
company first introduced Mobilgrease 28
(still in use) in the early 1960s to prevent
military plane wheel bearings from failing
during landings in cold temperatures, followed
by the Mobil-brand synthetic oil
technology for big diesel engines powering
oil drilling rigs on Alaska's North
Slope (U.S.) in temperatures as low as
-40°C in the late 1960s.102
Amatuzio was aware of
The formation of OPEC. Following
WW2, global oil consumption began to expand
significantly. During this timeframe,
the U.S. was simultaneously the world's
largest consumer and producer of oil, and
global oil supplies were dominated by the
Seven Sisters (five were headquartered in
the U.S.)-Anglo-Iranian Oil Co. (now
bp), Royal Dutch Shell, Standard Oil Co.
of California (now Chevron), Gulf Oil
and Texaco (both merged into Chevron),
Standard Oil Co. of New Jersey and Standard
Oil Co. of New York (both are now
ExxonMobil). Up until the early 1970s,
these multinational organizations controlled
approximately 85% of the world's
petroleum reserves-this included large
oil reserves in the Middle East.103
Wanting to control more of its domestic
reserves, several oil exporting countries-Iran,
Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia
and Venezuela-convened in Baghdad,
Iraq in September 1960 (FIG. 2). This
historic meeting's (the Baghdad Conference)
goal was to discuss ways to increase
crude oil pricing produced by these countries,
as well as ways to respond to unilateral
actions by the Seven Sisters and
other multinational organizations.103
This
meeting led to the creation of the Organization
of Petroleum Exporting Countries
(OPEC), which witnessed its member
countries increase over the next 15 yr.
OPEC grew in prominence during the
1970s, as its member countries gained
greater control of their domestic production
and began to play a greater role in
world oil markets.104
The organization
still plays a decisive role in crude oil production,
with the ability to significantly
affect crude oil pricing globally.
During the 1960s, the Middle East
FIG. 2. The delegation of Saudi Arabia at
the historic Baghdad Conference in midSeptember
1960. Photo courtesy of OPEC.
68 MAY 2022 | HydrocarbonProcessing.com
also witnessed the expansion of regional
refining and petrochemical capacity. For
example, the Ras Tanura refinery in Saudi
Arabia expanded its capacity from 50,000
bpd to 210,000 bpd.69
Kuwait National
Petroleum Co. expanded the Mina Abdullah
refinery's capacity from 30,000 bpd
to 145,000 bpd in 1963, as well as commissioned
the 95,000-bpd Shuabia refinery
in April 1968-the Shuabia refinery
increased processing capacity to 195,000
bpd in 1975. The Shuabia refinery eventually
closed in 2017; however, its infrastructure
was incorporated into the country's
capital-intensive Clean Fuels Project.105
The Shuaiba Industrial Zone also housed
Kuwait's first chemical fertilizer complex.
Petrochemicals Industries Co.-established
in 1963-commissioned the facility
in 1967, which was the first of its kind in
the Middle East. Saudi Arabia and Qatar
followed suit, establishing the Saudi Arabian
Fertilizer Co. in 1965 and the Qatar
Fertilizer Co. in 1969.106
Synthetic zeolite catalysts are patented
and commercialized. The term
zeolite-microporous, aluminosilicate
minerals-was first coined by Swedish
mineralogist Axel Fredrik Cronstedt in
1756.107
Cronstedt, who is most noted
for discovering the elements nickel and
scheelite (later to be known as tungsten),
discovered zeolite after heating the mineral
stillbite (tectosilicate minerals of the
zeolite group) with a blowpipe flame.
The process produced a large amount of
steam from water that had been absorbed
by the mineral.107,108
After observing the
reaction, Cronstedt coined the mineral
" zeolite " from the Greek words " to boil "
and " stone. " 107
Modern research and development of
synthetic zeolites were pioneered by individuals
such as New Zealand-born chemist
Richard Barrer (his work in adsorption
and synthesis began the era of synthetic
zeolites); Robert Milton, Donald Breck
and T. B. Reed at Union Carbide (their
work during the late 1940s/early 1950s
led to the discovery of synthetic zeolites
A, X and Y); and Jule Rabo and Edith
Flanigen who both worked with Milton's
team at Union Carbide. Rabo led the
catalyst research group at Union Carbide
from 1957-1961 and played a key role in
the discovery of the catalytically active ingredient
used worldwide in the catalytic
cracking of gasoils to produce gasoline.109
Flanigen was instrumental in the development
of zeolite Y. In his historical perspective
on zeolite research, Milton described
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