Montana oil and mining journal. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1931-1953, 1939-07-29
REVOLUTIONARY


IS per cent can be transformed INTO
motor fuel by modern methods hut
the average Is less than SO per cent
The Houdry process boosts this per
centage by turning so per cent or
more OF the residue into gasoline.
Houdry discovered that the
breaking down OF heavy hydrocar-
bOns OF oil and tar into the hydro
carbons that form gasoline Is &C
celebrated when a quantity OF alu-
minum silicate Is present in the
cracking still The hot oil vapor
under treatment is forced through
/ porous masses OF this catalyst.
Ordinary thermal cracking requires
pressures OF around 1000 pounds
/ per square inch and temperatures
Of up to 100 degrees, but cata-
lytic cracking takes place at only
twenty to forty pounds per square
inch pressure and 900 degrees tenn
perature.
Not only does catalytic cracking
create more gasoline than any other
method but the gasoline can hardly
be made to detonate in today's
automobile The fuel has a natural
oetane rating Of from seventy-eight
to eighty-me, the equivalent of
the best premium gasolines on the
market After treatment catalytic
gasoline has very low gum and sui
phur contents.
May BE Year More
1t may be a year or so before
this new gas is on the open mar
ket. Seven million gallons of it
were manufactured last year but
most of this was snapped up at
once as the base for 10O-octane
aviation gasoline. Sun Oil company
of Philadelphia is operating one
Is, O00-barrel plant and Socony-
Vacuum has three others in pro-
duction Some of the gasoline that
these plants are turning out is be
ing blended with lower grade fuels
to improve its anti-knock value.
Ten new Houdry plants costing
$35,000,000 are under construction
and licenses for additional plants
are being issued.
1t is possible by recycling raw
gasoline through the catalytic still,
to reform it into a base fuel that
has an octane rating as high as
ninety-one before other treatment.
Catalytic cracking apparently
solves another big refining prob
lem. In the past large quantities Of
heavy fuel oils and asphalts were
by-products in the
manufacture of gasoline. The re-
finer had to sell them or store
them until he found q market. J
day he can feed them into cata-
lytic cracking still and convert
them into high-grade gasoline and
light furnace oil without residual
waste. Within limits he can control
the proportions of the products
that he obtains.
May Change Engines Is
The implications Of this new
are much wider than mere
ly providing an inexpensive high
octane motor fuel for today's cars.
By making higher grade fuel avail
able at a reasonable price, catalytic
cracking opens up an entirely new
horizon in automotive engine de-
sign.
Every one knows that the eff
cheney of a gasoline engine de-
Ponds upon its compression, the de-
gree to which the fuel charge is
before it is ignited.
Since 1881 the maximum brake !
horsepower in the automobile field
has increased sixty-two percent
while displacement has increased on
y three per cent. That means that
more than half as much power
again is developed in substantially
he same engine, due to increase In !
pressures. The part
hat the petroleum industry has I
played in this advance has been to !
provide fuels OF high anti-knock t
'alue that would not detonote at a
he higher pressures. To a great I
xtent high compression has had to p
Vait for the proper fuels. o
Higher Compression :
Until recently the indications =
1here that anti-knock fuel had 4
cached a level in octane rating a. :
owe which 1t was impractical to =
limb because of higher costs. y
hat threatened to halt the de- ;.
ign of efficient engines using =
igher compression ratios.
Now that high-compression gaso- IL
nc C6u DG at nOA~
remium prices automobile engine
will be able to build N
ngines of higher compressions that ~
ill take full advantage of the D
ew fuel Tetraethyl lead probably 81
ill still be used with cataIytically
racked gasoline to raise its octane q
alue even higher, further increas- d
lg the range of engine design. It z.
estimated that an automobile en-
inc designed to take full advan- =
lge of 100-octane fuel would be
bout half the size of one OF to-
avs engines, would deliver the
lme flashy aeceleration and high
'eed, and would be 40 per cent
ore economical in its use Of
Iel.
Making Motors Lighter
Twenty-four years ago 1t took