The Celina Democrat. (Celina, O. [Ohio]) 1895-1921, 1915-04-30

-N +, Rittman, chemical eng
" neer OF the bureau OF mines
IA had made two chemical dis
coveries of epoch.makinl
Importance. One, il wa,
announced, will greatly in
crease the production of gasoline; the
announcement stated that the other
VIII make the United States indepen
cent OF the rest OF the world in the
production of materials necessary for
the aye industry and the manufacture
Oh high explosives These discoveries
nave the double importance of being
oil the highest interest scientifically
ana probably of the highest value com.
mercially
The old method of refining petro.
leum was to heat up the material in a
stu and condeuse the vapors c-mtng
on Gasoline is all OF the vapor
which passes on up to l5O degrees cen.
tlgrade. This was a simple distilla.
ton process. The experimental work
OF Doctor Rittman has been done at
various ranges uf pressure from up to
nearly 500 pounds per square inch
down To partial vacuum ana at ranges
OF temperature from 1000 degrees cen
tigrade down TO the lowest tempera-
ture at which the apparatus could be
worked.
In his laboratory at Havemeyer hall
at Columbia university he has an ex-
perimental apparatus which occupies
one end of a small room and in which
he can make experiments upon any oil
under any conditions he chooses. The
results are carefully tabulated and the
products produced are analyzed. Be
fore carrying out these actual expert
ments, however the problem was at
tackled from the purely theoretical
side.
Working from a theoretical stand
point. the expected results were
mapped out and then the experiments
were tried under the chosen condi.
tions in order to either verify or dis
prove the prognOstications Using this
general method of procedure, the re-
search was carried on and the discov-
cry made of the conditions necessary
to produce larger yields of gasoline
from petroleum. Later were found the
conditions necessary for the produc-
tion of toluol and benzol from petro.
leum.
The consumption of gasoline by au-
tomobiles. motor cycles, aeroplanes,
motor boats, and the various types of
internal combustion engines used for
power has increased enormously in the
last few years. The increase in the
number of motor vehicles shows this,
for. according to the best estimates,
there were, in 1910, $4,000 such We
hicles: in 1912 there were 100000. |
while at the present time the number
has reached 100000. Upon the as
sumption that each motor vehicle uses !
ten barrels of gasoline per year, the |
demand from this source alone would |
be 100000 barrels of AZ gallons each. |
The gasoline exported and that used |
for other purposes makes our annual
consumption reach a total Of about |
25, 100000 gallons, which is the pres
ent production.
The supply has not been increasing
as fast as the demand, however, and
even now it would be inadequate were
it not for the fact that in the last three
years many new processes have been
patented for increasing most of the
production. These have had no COM
mercial value, however, except one,
the Burton process, which is con-
trolled by the Standard Oil company
The situation which developed when
this process was brought out three
years ago was an interesting one. The
supply of gasoline was so nearly eX-
ceeded by the demand that the situa-
tion was very critical and the price
was high. There was a real gasoline
problem" 1t seemed impossible to
meet the increasing demand with an
adequate supply.
Benzol was also put forward as a
substitute 1t was found possible to
use this material for motor vehicles
in Europe to a certain extent by en-
ploying special carburetors, although
1t was not entirely satisfactory.
After all, nothing was really able to
take the place of gasoline in being en-
tirely satisfactory, nor was there an
adequate supply Of any other material.
1t was at this time that the Standard
Oil company solved the gasoline
problem" by utilizing the Burton proc.
ess, which gave prospect of an abun-
dance of gasoline for some years at
least
However, the independent refin-
ers, who were prevented by the
patents from using this superior meth
cd of distilling their crude oil, could
not materially increase their output
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