Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1939-04-06
Of Stars, Men
And Atoms
Notebook Of Science Progress
In Field, Laboratory
And Study
BIZ Thomas r. Henri.


motor fuels for transocean sky liners
and the air dreadnaughts of future wars,
with by-products which may range all
the way from high explosives to rainbow
colors for ballroom gowns, was predicted
by petroleum chemists here yesterday.
Petroleum, it was explained. is COM
posed of 80 or more different substances,
known as paraffins. In crude gasoline
several of them are mixed together.
Their molecules are of different shapes,
sizes and weights. In cylinder explo-
sions they step on each others toes
The old petroleum chemistry was con-
cerned with separating them. The
newer methods not only accomplish this
much more efficiently by means of cat
alysts. substances which precipitate
chemical changes but which remain
unchanged themselves. but actually
change the shapes of the molecules 10
fit the engines.
Motors, it was explained seem to pre-
fer short, compact molecules rather
than the long, stringy ones which con-
stitute many of the natural elements
of petroleum. Already, said DR.. Hugh
S. Taylor, professor of chemistry at
Princeton, the cracking of gasoline
molecules which was one of the great
triumphs of the oil industry few
years ago belongs to the chemical dark
ages as various substances have been
found which act as chemical catalysts
to separate the various paraffins and
change their shapes.
The modern aviation engine, said Prof
Taylor, distinguishes in its performance
between the hydrocarbons which make
up gasoline even when they are of The
same weight and the same volatility.
1t appears to be question Of how tle
molecules are arranged, he pointed oth.
A few years ago good deal of gaso-
line consisted of a hydrocarbon known
as heptane which is made up of chains
of seven carbon atoms. In high-power
motors it causes constant knocking.
Vastly superior is another hydrocarbon
physically almost indistinguishable. the
atoms Of which are arranged IN
branches.
Today said Prof Taylor, chemistry lis
taking the gases that emerge from the
cracking stills and changing them to
more suitable arrays of the same carbon
and hydrogen atoms, by means of spe-
cif1c catalysts. These products with other
specific agents it is binding together into
molecules twice or thrice the unit size,
high IN fuel value. 1t is replacing a
hydrogen atom with hydrocarbon frag-
ment, and changing a doubly bound car
bon atom into a singly bound one by
adding hydrogen. With yet other cat
alysts straight chain hydrocarbons, poor
in fuel value, can be changed into ben
Zene and toluene.
These advances indicate a revolution
in the whole chemical industry. Hith-
erto the dyestuffs and high explosives,
such as INT, have been derived from
coal tars They have really been by-prod-
ucts of the steel industry. Henceforth
this coal tar industry must meet the
challenge Of the petroleum chemist
In the next war giant bombers may
carry toluene from petroleum in their
high explosives and as fuel Even in
peace it is to the raw materials of pc
troleum that we must look for source
materials of fine chemicals. Nor do we
need to fear petroleum exhaustion for
the problem Of production OF liquid fuels
from coal is already solved against the
day when the economics of the situation
demand its introduction"
One of these specific accomplishments
was reported by Drs. A. l.. Glazebrook
and w. G.. Lowell of the research labora-
tories of the General Motors Corp. They
have been able, they said, to change a
siX-sided hydrocarbon molecule in gaso-
line into one with five sides and a tail
which can be used in much more efficient
automobile engines. While the process
is not yet under way commercially, they
said, 1t points to the day when molecular
shapes can be changed at will and engine
knock eliminated altogether.
An outstanding development reported
by Drs. c. L. Brown and E. j. Gohr,
chemists of the Standard Oil Co., is the
production Of unlimited supplies of
type of motor fuel suitable for airplanes
with cruising speeds of 200 miles an hour
by forcing hydrogen into gasoline under
high pressure and causing it to combine
with the molecules already there under
high pressures.
In the past, they said, fuels suitable
for such high-powered motors could be
obtained only by distillation of crude
gasolines so as to get out the lighter,
more volatile hydrocarbon fractions.
These were known as "naphthas" Their
production involved good deal of waste
and the supply necessarily was limited.
These chemically created gasolines,
they said, are as good in every way as
those which were obtained by the dis
filling process, and they have superior
anti-knock qualities. They will enable
engine manufacturers, the chemists
stressed, to make engines which may be
operated with less fuel per unit of out
put, which will mean greater cruising
ranges or greater loads.
Almost the opposite process of taking
hydrogen out of the gasoline hydro
carbons, which will make them more
available for the various by-products
predicted by DR.. Taylor, was described
by Dr.. E. c. Williams of the Shell De-
velopment Co.
The natural paraffins in gasoline, he
said. do not combine easily with any,
thing else so that they have been diff