Hydrocarbon Processing - September 2022 - 139

Industry Pioneers
lyst, 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.
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
1939-1941.27
They produced and
patented the first polyester fiber in 1941, named Terylene, which
equaled or even surpassed the toughness and resilience of nylon.
DONALD L. CAMPBELL, EGER V.
MURPHREE, HOMER Z. MARTIN
AND CHARLES W. TYSON
troleum in 1951.35
first commercial FCC facility went online on May 25, 1942.31
Their invention was not only extremely important but also
timely, as it enabled refineries to produce and supply enough
high-octane fuel to aid U.S. and Allied forces during World
War 2 (WW2). FCC technology also led to the rapid buildup
of butadiene production, which was used by ER&E for making
synthetic butyl rubber, another technology that was vital during
that era. The first commercial FCC plant processed 13,000 bpd
of heavy oil, making 275,000 gal of gasoline.32
employed today around the world and continues to evolve as
the market for high-performance clean fuel demand increases.
ROBERT BANKS AND PAUL HOGAN
American research chemists J.
Paul Hogan and Robert Banks
discovered crystalline polypropylene
(PP) and created a
process for making high-density
polyethylene (HDPE)
while working at Phillips PeTheir
breakthrough invention, although serendipitous,
was not accidental. In the wake of WW2 and diminishing
oil demand, Phillips Petroleum was involved in concerted
efforts to investigate the uses of natural gas liquids (NGLs).
Hogan and Banks were studying processes by which propylene
and ethylene could be converted to valuable gasoline-like materials,
so they started investigating the use of catalysts to do so.
In June 1951, they were experimenting by adding a small
Donald Campbell, Eger Murphree, Homer Martin and Charles
Tyson-often called the 'Four Horsemen'-are credited with
the landmark invention of fluid catalytic cracking (FCC). The
FCC process revolutionized the refining industry by providing
an efficient process to increase the yield of high-octane gasoline
from crude oil. Their invention was awarded a U.S. patent
and described as 'a method of and apparatus for contacting
solids and gases.'30
During the late 1930s, Exxon Research & Engineering Co.
(ER&E) was looking for ways to improve high-octane gasoline
yield. Chemical engineering professors at MIT-Warren K. Lewis
and Edwin R. Gilliland-suggested that a low-velocity gas flow
through a powder may lift it enough to cause it to flow like a liquid.1
Campbell,
Martin, Murphree and Tyson at ER&E focused
on the idea of a fluidized catalyst to innovate a design that would
ensure a steady and continuous cracking operation. This idea led
the four inventors to design a fluidized solids reactor bed with a
pipe transfer system between the reactor and regenerator unit in
which the catalyst is decoked and regenerated for reuse. The solids
(catalyst) and gases (vaporized oil) are in continuous contact
as they move upward in fluidized flow while cracking occurs. The
hydrocarbon chains are split into smaller pieces, and the cracked
molecules are further distilled to produce gasoline, heating oil,
fuel oil, propane, butane and chemical feedstocks that are instrumental
in producing a variety of petrochemical products.
The four inventors developed the process in 1942, and the
amount of chromium oxide to a nickel oxide catalyst and fed
propylene with a propane carrier through the catalyst-packed
tube. While pure nickel oxide yielded the expected product of
low-molecular weight hydrocarbons, the chromium-modified
catalyst produced a white solid-a new material, crystalline
PP. With this new discovery, they pivoted research efforts from
gasoline to plastics and used the chromium catalyst to produce
an ethylene polymer. Within a year, they created the process
for making HDPE-the safest, hardest and most heat-resistant
plastic created at the time using much lower operating pressure
than branched low-density PE. Phillips launched their product
as Marlex® in 1954.36
Their invention revolutionized the consumer
plastics industry and launched Phillips, an oil company,
as a manufacturer of polyolefin plastics. HDPE is extensively
used in packaging, commodity plastics, toys, tools, furniture,
auto parts and a variety of other applications.
Hogan received the Pioneer Chemist Award and is credited
with 52 U.S. patents.37
Hogan and Banks together received the
Perkin Medal in 1987, the Heroes of Chemistry award by the
American Chemical Society in 1989 and were inducted into the
National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2001.38
KARL ZIEGLER
In 1953, German chemist Karl Ziegler employed
a catalyst consisting of a mixture of titanium tetrachloride
and an alkyl derivative of aluminum to
create a high molecular weight, high melting
point and straight-chain PE. His pioneering research
with organometallic compounds, which made industrial
production of high-quality PE possible, won him the 1963 Nobel
Prize in Chemistry, which he shared with Giulio Natta.39
Hydrocarbon Processing's Centennial Anniversary | SEPTEMBER 2022 139
FCC is widely
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