Hydrocarbon Processing - September 2022 - 51

100th Anniversary
History of the HPI
LEE NICHOLS, VP, Content/Editor-in-Chief
The 1950s: Capacity expansion, HDPE/PP,
polycarbonate, computers and rocket science
The 1950s marked an evolution in the
use of oil by nations around the world. The
processing of crude oil into fuels (e.g., gasoline
and aviation gasoline) was imperative
for economies to function-the use of oil
increased significantly in many countries'
total energy mix. For example, the use of
oil was imperative during reconstruction
efforts in Western Europe post World War
2 (WW2). Petroleum products in Europe's
total energy mix increased from 10% at the
end of WW2 to 21% in the mid-1950s and
upwards to 45% in the 1960s.68
Across the world, nations were investing
in new refining capacity to satisfy demand
for refined fuels. One of the first
refineries to startup post WW2 was the
Ras Tanura refinery in Saudi Arabia-
the refinery began operations approximately
1 mos (October 1945) after the
end of the global conflict. By the early
1960s, the Ras Tanura refinery expanded
production capacity from 50,000 bpd to
210,000 bpd.69
Additional refining capacity
increased in other nations and regions,
including India, southeast Asia, the U.S.,
Western Europe and the first refineries in
Africa-two refineries were built in Algiers,
Algeria and Durban, South Africa in
1954, followed by refinery construction
in Angola, Ghana, Nigeria and Senegal in
the late 1950s/early 1960s.70
The 1950s was also a time of new
technological discoveries for the refining
and petrochemical industries. These
included new refining and petrochemical
processes to produce higher octane fuels,
new derivatives of polyethylene (PE), the
evolution of catalyst design, new chemical
products, the adoption of computers
in plant operations and the advancement
of rocket fuels technology.
Catalytic research and development
advances. After WW2, demand
FIG. 1. Phillips Research Complex. The inset shows the site of the development of PP. Photo
courtesy of American Chemical Society and Phillips 66 (successor of Phillips Petroleum Co.).
for high-octane gasoline increased globally-fluid
catalytic cracking (FCC) capacity
witnessed a significant capacity
buildout in the 1940s to produce highoctane
fuels for the Allied war effort. In
turn, researchers developed new technologies
to advance refining processes to
produce higher octane fuels. For example,
the U.S. added approximately 4 MMbpd
of octane improvement capacity (e.g.,
catalytic reforming, isomerization, alkylation,
hydrotreating)-directly or indirectly-during
the 1950s.71
Another process-Platforming,
invented in the late
1940s by Vladimir Haensel of UOP-was
instrumental in the eventual removal of
lead from gasoline. The process also used
a platinum catalyst to produce gasoline
with a higher octane rating, an unconventional
approach at the time due to the
high costs of precious metals. Around
the same time, hydrodesulfurization was
commercialized. Today, most refineries
have one or more desulfurization units.
In the 1950s, FCC processing technology
started to incorporate zeolite catalysts
in the reaction. Due to their molecular
structure, zeolite catalysts are extremely
effective in the reaction process-they
have higher performance at lower pressures.
In the early 1960s, the effectiveness
of zeolite catalysts was also instrumental
in making the hydrocracking process
economical-the modern hydrocracking
process was developed at Standard Oil of
California's (now Chevron) Richmond
Hydrocarbon Processing's Centennial Anniversary | SEPTEMBER 2022 51

Hydrocarbon Processing - September 2022

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