Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-10-08
BETTER AUTOFUEL
|. IS ENG|NEERS' AIM
Industry Keeps Pace With
Requirements for High
Test Gasoline.
BY BENNETT WOLFE,
Associated Press star Writsr.

TULSA, Okla, October s.--How the
oil industry has quickened step 10 keen
pace with the requirements of autono-
bile makers for improved motor fuels
was described today to the petroleum
division, American Society OF Me-
cnanicai Engineers, meeting here In
connection with the Seventh Annual
international Petroleum Exposition.
The cracking process, which has en-
aoied refiners to produce gasoline of
superior "anti-knock'' qualities, was
termed the greatest forward step taken
by the oil refining industry In the last
10 years, In paper by Lyman G. HUI,
chief engineer Of the Universal oil
Products Co., Chicago.
I. Demand for Fuels.
Spurred on by an increasing demand
Tor high-Quality motor fuels, further
research may lead to DEVELOPMENT Of
additional improvements that provide q
gasoline giving ., still better perform.
ance and more nearly fitting the needs
OF present-day high-compression en-
gires. Hun told the engineering group.
Stressing the Importance Of the dee
yelopment Of cracking, he said the
process was almost wholly responsible
for increasing the average total yield
OF gasoline from 26.1 per cent of the
amount of crude oil produced IN 1919
to 46.i per cent Of the crude oil pro-
duction In the first four months Of
1880.
In the cracking process oil Is distilled
at high temperatures under pressure.
A chemical-physical change Is effected
the molecules being reduced and
Cracked" to make gasoline. Before the
advent Of cracking the refining Of OIL
was o process Of physically separating
the various fractions OF crude oil by
distillation at atmospheric pressure.
HUFF asserted the forward strides Of
the automobile industry would not have
line production that resulted from de-
veiopment of the cracking process.
Cracking had It's birth, IS 3 COM
mercial factor in petroleum refining at
the same time that the infant automo-
bile industry began to give certain
promise OF growing TO vigorous ma
turity," he said. 80 II may be said
that the cracking art and the automo-
bile industry grew UP together.
In fact, It Is generally admitted that
the tremendously rapid increase In the
manufacture and use OF automobiles
would have been impossible II the oil
industry and the process engineers had
not developed the cracking process In
order to meet the increasing demand
for more gasoline to run them. Even
the constantly increasing volumes Of
crude oil being brought out Of the
ground would have been insufficient TO
give the needed gasoline by the old
methods Of refining"
Compression Increased.
Calling attention to the need for an
improved type of fuel which was Gre
ated by advances in automotive engi-
neering and development Of the high
compression motor, HUFF told how the
cracking process had aided In solving
the problem placed upon refiners.
Automobile engineers, constantly
seeking greater efficiency and better
performance in their engines, found
that increasing the compression Of en-
gines was means of getting greater
power, snap and all-around perform
ance. s s,,.
I'm order to operate such high-com-
preston engines, a fuel was necessary
which possessed different Characters
| tics from those Of the motor fuels pre-
viously used-a fuel that did not
knock or ping in the engine. Such
fuel came to be known as .anti-knock'
| gasoline.
Petroleum technologists found that
the cracking process could produce gas
cline Of much higher anti-knock value
than the straightrrun product and this
fact has further greatly promoted the
use OF the cracking process by refin-
ersn