The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-09-26
How Science Solved
 Ohio Oil Problem
By HOLLAND,

By HOLLAND.
 New York, September 25.-(SpeciaD
 Nearly eight years ago pr. Herman Frasch spoke to the members of the Chemist club, which had formally rec ognized his great scientific achieve ments by awarding to him the Perkin medal That is regarded as the high est honor that the chemical profession in the Unied States can confer upon anyone who has achieved greatly in the field of chemistry. MT. Frasch had by reason of his researches and inven- tions made it possible so to treat the oil produced in the Ohio, Indiana and Illinois field that it equalled for com mercial purposes the petroleum which was obtained from the original oil fields of western Pennsylvania.
 Romantic stores have been told of this commercial development of the Ohio oils through the inventions and researches of Frasch. Many times it has been reported that John D. Rocke- feller was one of the few leaders in the oil industry of the United States who felt convinced that science would
  leum would be purified, so to speak, so that it would compare with the pe- troleum of Pennsylvania Therefore, | Mir Rockefeller did not hesitate to | make heavy purchases in the Ohio fields, being able to buy at very tow l price. His confidence was Justified l after Frascf demonstrated how this Ohio oil could be purified. MT Rocke- | feller is understood to have added greatly to his already pre-eminentlJ | great fortune through his investment ! in Ohio oil fields, and utilization oi | the Frasch process Possibly there may | be some exaggeration in these reports but it is commonly believed that there l is substantial truth in them.
 WHAT FRASCH DID
 1 The Pennsylvania oil which was the | first to produce commercially was | noticeable by reason of the fact thai | there was no sulphur in it. For thai | reason it was easy for the refiners ol ! diStillers to secure sweet burning oil ! gasoline, paraphine and other by products at comparatively low cost. or l the other hand the Ohio oil. for req l sons which the geologists now under | stand, was found tc be saturated witt 1 sulphur In fact the saturation was st | great as to make the oil very offensive l Therefore it could not be made com l mercially valuable excepting, for on' use It could be used for fuel oil. Bu
 at that time the utilization of oil fo fuel purposes had not bet<ln to reaci the proportions which it has now at | tained.
 1 FOR SCIENCE TO SOLVE
 If science could discover a metho' by means of which this sulphur coul
 be eradicated then the Ohio oil coul be utilized commercially as well
 the oil produced in the Pennsylvani
 fields. Frasch, who had already gaine'
 a reputation as a man of science, un
 dertook to solve the problem. and afte
 several years of research and experl
 ment he at last was able to make
 statement which was received by tn
 leaders in the oil industry with aston lishment. It proposed new and there tofore method of purifying the oi
 Frasch's success in this undoubtedl turned his attention to the probler l which was offered by the great sulphu deposits known to exist in souther
 Louisiana and parts of Texas. AS re gently as 1918 the Louisiana sulphu deposits were discovered also by acci
 dent by prospectors who were drill ing for oil discovered that at abou zoo or 800 feet below the surface ther existed enormous deposits of sulphu But how was it to be obtained Muc money was spent and the ablest engi | neeIS
 to secure this sulphur All were cor vinced that if available means coui be found for reaching it and bringtl | ii to the surface then in short tim { the United States would be able to sur ply itself from these domestic resource {. with all the sulphur that 1t needed an no longer depend upon Sicily, but a ! attempts to secure the sulphur falle luntil Frasch showed how 1t could {. secured Frasch. utilizing the know ( edge he obtained in the Ohio oil field perfected process which revolution .l ized the relation of the United State
 SO far as the sulphur supply is cor cerned He drilled a we'll from tf
 surface through the sulphur deposi f finding that deposit to be at least ~ i. feet think A pipe was placed in tf
 well after it had been filled up wit ! sand. that being done for the purpos l. of affording tight resceptacle at tf !, bottom for liquid sulphur. Then d used a melting fluid which consists VI of water superheated to 335 degret ul fahrenheit Without going into tecl
 nical details all that need be said :. l that his first experiments were su' V cessful and a stream of golden flui which was pure sulphur shot into tf t barrels which Frasch had placed s an appropriate position. To use his ow 7 words afterward, we had melted tf
 mineral in the ground and brougl e | it to the surface as a liauid"
 n A ROMANTIC NARRATIVE Il Chauncey NJ. Depew. while referrin :, to a disclosure made when the estat of H. Nick Twombly was probate | showing that the estate was receivin l. about $500. 900 from the investmer e made by MT Twombly in this Louisian g sulphur proposition, said that M n Frasch came to New York hoping ths
 he could persuade sufficient capit r to enable him to secure large amour :. of the sulphur fields and to put h process into operation He found ths 1 capital was not interested and he a Il most despaired until he at last pel
 suaded MT. Twombly and a few othel 1" to advance money sufficient for h Z purposes.