PFTPOT FITM CriPNTKT^
Lessening Drain on Nation’s
TO THE RESEARCH SCIENTIST working
indefatigably in his laboratory, is due
a major share of the credit for the
progress that is steadily being made
in conserving our crude petroleum re
sources. Thri ugh the advances science
is making in the refining of crude
petroleum and its extraction from the
ground, the day when the nation’s oil
supply will be exhausted is constantly
being postponed.
Conservation does not only mean, as
many assume, the preservation, the
stoppage of use, or the hoarding of
the resource. It is true that petroleum,
like other natural resources—our coal,
our iron, our copper—is irreplaceable.
Nature will not refill with oil the sands
that have been drained. But it is also
true that the nation’s prosperity,
security and comfort necessitate the
wide use of products derived from
crude petroleum. With this in mind,
conservation must be taKei to mean
that our oil resources must be drawn
upon, refined and used without waste,
in orderly response to economic re
quirements.
MOTOR FI EL FROM WASTE GASES
Polymerization, a staggering word
to the layman, is the term used to
describe the latest triumph of science
in the elimination of waste during the
refining process. Briefly, polymeriza
tion involves the production of high
grade gasoline from refinery gases
hitherto wasted or used as fuel. Mark
ing recognition of the importance of
this new process, The Atlantic Refin
ing Company has built a new refinery
at Atr.co, Texas, whicl includes a
polym rization unit, while at its Point
Breeze refinery, Philadelphia, it is
erecting what will be the largest ther
mal polymerization plant in the world.
From gases generated during the re
fining of crude petroleum, the Point
Breeze plant will produce 62,500 gal
lons of gasoline daily. In other words
the process will make possible to
produce every day 62,500 more gallons
of gasoline than it would otherwise be
possible to produce from the amount
of crude run through the refinery.
Gasoline produced fron refinery
gases by polymerization is particularly
well adapted to use in modern high
compression engines according to The
Atlantic Refining Company’s engi
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A"
n
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neers, who point out that the possibili
ties of the process in relation to future
motor fuel production are truly start
ling. If polymerization were adopted
generally by the petroleum refining
industry it is estimated that it would
increase by over 1,000,000,000 gallons
the amount of gasoline now being ob
tained from the crude petroleum re
fined annually by the industrV. This
additional 1,030.000,000 gallons would
supply the annual requirements of
some 2,000,U0u motorists without im
posing any additional drain on the na
tion’s oil reserve.
“CRACKED” GASOLINE
Polymerization is still in its infancy
but the cracking process, another tri
umph of the research scientist, has al
ready been in general use long enough
to demonstrate both its potentialities
and its results. About 25 years ago, al
though the fullest possible yield from
straight-run refining had been secured,
the demand for gasoline began to
mount rapidly, due to the increasing
use of the automobile. In producing
gasoline by straight-run refining, no
change in chemical composition is in
volved. The constituent products are
simply separated out of the crude oil.
“Cracked” gasoline is obtained by tak
ing the heavier constituents of crude
oil obtained along with gasoline in
straight-run refining, and subjecting
them to high temperatures in specially
designed stills.
What "cracking” does is to break up
or crack dhe heavy constitutents of
Thermal polymerizatlo
ing built by The A'
fining Company a
Breeze Refinery, Phila
produce gasoline fro
gases. With a daily c
62,500 gallons of ga
plant will be the
largest of its type in
the world, and the
first to be built in
the eastern United
States.
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om refinery
capacity of CORE DRILLS WERE DEVISED THAT PROBED THE SUBTERRANEAN SANDS
asoline, the AND BROUGHT UP SPECIMENS TO BE ANALYSED IN THE LABORAiORY
crude oil into oils that boil over a
wide range from very low to very
high. The gasoline, or th,. lighter and
lower boiling material, is separated out
by subjecting it to much the same re
fining process as the original straight
run refining.
Approximately 8.500,000,000 barrels
of crude petroleum have been con
served in the United States in the last
17 years by using the cracking process
in the manufacture of motor fuel. Had
it not been for cracking it would have
been necessary to run nearly 22,000,-
000,000 barrels of crude oil to stills be
tween January 1. 1920, and December
31, 1936. 'to produce the more than
5,000,000.000 barrels of gasoline re
quired. Use of the cracking process
made it possible to produce this
amount of motor fuel from a little
over 13,000,000.000 barrels of crude.
The amount of crudi oil conserved by
the cracking process represents nearly
two-thirds of the currently estimated
reserve. Cracking has undoubtedly
been the greatest single contribution
to the conservation of our petroleum
supply.
REJUVENATION OF OLD POOLS
The third outstanding contribution
to petroleum conservation that scien
tists have made lies in increasing the
percentage of oil extracteo from the
nation’s oil pools, and in producing a
second crop of oil from pools pre
viously considered exhausted. Under
the ordinary flowing and- pumping
method of producing oil, a good part
of the oil in the underground reservoir
canno* be brought to the surface. The
oil obstinately clings to the sands
which hold it, defying the most power
ful pump.
Petroleum scientists set themselves
to the solution of the problem of how
to recover this “irrecoverable” oil.
The fiYst necessity was to obtain
specimens of the petroleum bearing
sands, thousands of feet below the sur
face. Only when the structure of these
sands was definitely known would it
be possible to determine how they
might be forced to release their store
of oil. Core drills were devised that
probed the subterranean sands and
brought up specimens to be analysed
in the laboratory. According to the re r
suits of the analysis, water, air or
natural gas was introduced under pres
sure. Reservoirs long give- up as ex
hausted began to produce oil again.
Nobody knows just how much petro
leum that would otherwise have re
mained in the ground and forever un
usable has been recovered by such
“secondary recovery” methods, but the
Pennsylvania oil fields, the oldest in
the world, provide a vivid example of
what has been accomplished. For 78
years these Pennsylvania fields have
been producing high-grade oil, but a
quarter of a century ago the old timers
were predicting the certain exhaus
tion of the fields in another 25 or 30
years.
Today, thanks largely to “secondary
recovery methods, Pennsylvania has
boosted its annual oil production to
almost the 16,000,000-barrel peak.
Where it once cost $2.00 to lift a
barrel of oil to the surface the job is
now being done for around 35 cents.
Millions of dollars are being spent for
new machinery. The landscape is dot
ted with new drilling wells. One of
the greatest upsurges of oil field ac
tivity during the last half century haa
grown out of the rejuvenation process
born and bred in the science labora
tory.