Houdry was invited by the vacuum oil company in 1930 to come to the united states and. In 1936, a process was developed called the houdry process. Hydrocracking is a catalytic chemical process used in petroleum refineries for converting the highboiling hydrocarbons in petroleum to lowboiling products such as gasoline, kerosene, jet fuel and diesel oil. Fluid catalytic cracking is a commonly used process, and a modern oil refinery will typically include a cat cracker, particularly at refineries in the us, due to the high demand for gasoline.
Houdry process was based on cyclic fixed bed configuration. Eugene houdry discovered a method for cracking lowgrade crude oil into hightest gasoline, developed a process for producing synthetic rubber in world war ii. Pew had presented a paper with the uninformative title of catalytic processing of petroleum hydrocarbons by the houdry process, the. Among others at the company who helped houdry in the development of the catalytic cracking process was alex golden oblad. In 1938, when the success of houdrys process had become apparent, standard oil of new jersey resumed the project as part of a consortium of that include five oil companies standard oil of new jersey, standard oil of indiana, angloiranian oil, texas oil and dutch shell, two engineeringconstruction companies m. In the 1920s, french engineer houdry experimented with the conversion of lignite to useful products, and found that clay minerals could convert his lignitebased oil to a fuel similar to gasoline. He also managed to catalytically crack lowgrade crude oil. Cracking products are sent to a fractionator to be separated into gas, gasoline, light cycle oil lco and heavy cycle oil hco products.
He was vice president of oxycatalyst, a firm founded by his father, eugene houdry, the inventor of the catalytic cracking process of oil refining to produce high octane gasoline. Kellogg limited and universal oil products and a german chemical company i. Although the houdry process generated about as much gasoline as did existing thermal cracking units, the catalytic product had a octane number of 88 compared to 72 for the noncatalytic product. It is widely used to convert the highboiling hydrocarbon fractions of petroleum crude oils to more valuable gasoline, olefinic gases and other products. Houdry invented a catalytic cracking process that could transform coal into gasoline. In addition, the houdry process created higher value byproducts that could be burned as fuel oil. Eugene houdry discovered a method for cracking lowgrade crude oil into hightest gasoline, developed a process for producing synthetic rubber in world war ii, and invented the catalytic converter for cleaning automobile exhaust. By that time a fluid catalyticcracking process had made the original houdry method obsolete. Cracking is used to break down the long chains of hydrocarbons that crude oil is comprised of into smaller hydrocarbon chains. The catalytic process for cracking petroleum molecules into the shorter ones that constitute gasoline was developed by houdry, who also. Donald campbell and colleagues fuelling a way of life. Such process include thermafor catalytic cracking and fluid catalytic cracking.
Industrial uses oil refining process called the houdry process, in which pressurized air is passed over a catalyst to burn off accumulated carbon. Fuel oil passed through beds of small pellets of silicaalumina in the reactor at temperatures of 800 to degrees fahrenheit but at pressures lower than those in thermal cracking. Eugene houdry discovered a method for cracking lowgrade crude oil into high test gasoline, developed a process for producing synthetic rubber in world war ii. The most important of the three is the steam cracking process, which accounts for over 95% of global butadiene. Houdry process definition of houdry process by merriam. Used in the oil and gas industry to refer to a variety of methods whereby a larger product is broken down into smaller byproducts.
Cracking products are sent to a fractionator to be separated into gas, gasoline. Fluid catalytic cracking encyclopedia article citizendium. Houdry served as a lieutenant in a tank company in the french army during world war one, receiving the fr. The houdry catalytic cracking was a cyclic process which typically used four timephased reactors, each of which cycled through a sequence of steps outlined below. Three years later, in 1936, soconyvacuum converted an older thermal cracking unit in their paulsboro refinery in new jersey to a small demonstration unit using the houdry process to catalytically crack 2,000 barrels per day 320 m 3 d of petroleum. Pioneered by eugene jules houdry 18921962, the catalytic cracking of petroleum revolutionized the industry. His process was introduced in 1936 by the soconyvacuum oil company later mobil oil corporation and in 1937 by the sun oil company later sunoco, inc. Born in france, houdry studied mechanical engineering at. Houdry process for catalytic cracking national historic chemical. The first fullscale commercial catalytic cracker for the selective conversion of crude petroleum to gasoline went on stream at the marcus hook refinery of sun company now sunoco, inc. One of the first improvements in petrochemical production was the catalytic process developed by eugene houdry 18921962, who obtained.
Following the development of a fixedbed houdry process, 1936 and a movingbed thermafor catalytic cracking, 1941 catalytic cracking process, fluidbed catalytic cracking fcc, 1942 became the most widely used process worldwide because of the improved thermal efficiency of the process and the high product selectivity achieved, particularly. Sometimes, the structures of molecules in one fraction are rearranged to produce another. This process had first been investigated in the 1920s by standard oil of new jersey, but research on it was abandoned during the depression. Fluid catalytic cracking fcc is the most important conversion process used in petroleum refineries. Named after the french inventor, eugene houdry, this unit relied upon a semibatch catalytic cracking process, enabling the large, heavier crude oil molecules to be cracked into smaller gasolinerange molecules in the presence of a powdered catalyst.
Houdry moved to the us, where, funded by the vacuum oil company and later sun oil, he continued working on his process. In 1931, houdry, in partnership with soconyvacuum now mobil, founded the houdry process company to develop houdrys fixedbed catalytic cracking process. In addition, catalyst particles used in this process are synthetic and thus have consistent and homogenous properties. The turbine, in turn, drives a compressor to pressurize the air for the process. Born in france, houdry studied mechanical engineering at the ecole des arts et metiers in paris. It used a fixedbed catalyst to crack petroleum molecules. Other products, such as the low molecular weight olefin gases, are very useful as polymer precursors or can be used to produce polymer gasoline.
These include the houdry process, oxidative dehydrogenation of 2butenes and steam cracking of saturated hydrocarbons. In 1933, houdry and soconyvacuum joined with sun oil company in developing the houdry process. Butadiene production process overview sciencedirect. The feed stock for catalytic cracking is normally light gas oil from vacuum distillation column. This process is a slightly more thermal efficient process than the houdry process. For cracking, gas oil feed was heated to 800f and fed to a fixedbed reactor packed with the catalyst particles. Houdry process definition is a cracking process for making highoctane gasoline by passing oil vapors through a fixed bed of an aluminum silicate catalyst in the form of pellets.
Not only did houdrys process increase the quantity of gasoline, but in. For example, crude oil can be processed cracked to. The primary motivation behind this project was the production of 1,3 butadiene without the need for olefin cracker c4 crude oil streams. Influence of dimethyl disulfide dmds on the cracking. The process was first used around 1942 and employs a powdered catalyst.
In 1931, houdry came to the united states and formed the houdry process company. Commonly, this is done using a process called alkylation. Nihf inductee eugene houdry invented catalytic cracking. Reports emphasize developments in process technology for onpurpose butadiene production that have potential implications for the chemical and energy industries. Cracking down on crude oil science history institute. With this process, oil companies were able to double the yield of usable oil with each barrel of crude oil they processed. Petroleum processing course with the assistance of semih eser and the. Steam cracking of paraffinic hydrocarbons as a coproduct of ethylene manufacturing.
Cracking of heavier petroleum fractions over selective catalysts. During wwii, the allied forces had plentiful supplies of the materials in contrast. Catalytic cracking of petroleum hydrocarbons for conversion of heavy to lighter fractions was originally done by thermal cracking which has. The catalytic cracking process was invented by eugene houdry in 1937.
Earlier commercial processes for cracking petroleum were thermal processes, relying on heat rather than on catalysis. Because catalysts can reduce the pressures and temperatures needed for carrying out commercially useful reactions, they help reduce costs. After modifying houdry s techniques, in april 1936 soconyvacuum transformed a thermal cracking unit at paulsboro into a unit that used the houdry process. Cracking was originally done thermally, and continued until 1933, when the houdry process for catalytic cracking was developed. The catalytic cracking process results in a good quantity of high octane rating products in the gasoline range. He was president and vice chairman of oxy catalyst, a firm founded by his father, eugene houdry, the inventor of the catalytic cracking process of oil refining to produce high octane gasoline.
Houdry process for catalytic cracking national historic. Comparing the feedstocks, objectives and products of. Eventually, catalytic cracking replaced thermal cracking in gasoline production. Catalytic cracking an overview sciencedirect topics. In alkylation, low molecular weight compounds, such as propylene and butylene, are mixed in the presence of a catalyst such as hydrofluoric acid or sulfuric acid a byproduct from removing impurities from many oil products. The catalytic cracking reactions deposited coke carbon onto the catalyst and required. There has been continuous up gradation in catalytic in catalytic cracking process from its incept of fixed bed technology to latter fluidized bed catalytic cracking fcc. Catalytic cracking takes place in a containment vessel called a chemical reactor and houdrys process came to be called fixedbed catalytic cracking. Gilliland, under contract to standard oil of new jersey, now exxonmobil. They developed the process into fluid catalytic cracking, which solved the problem of. In just under a year a new unit was processing 15,000 petroleum barrels a day.