MOLECULAR M A G I C at B a t o n R o u g e
ONE of the major triumphs of American chemistry was displayed early this month when the vast war program of the Baton Rouge refinery of the Standard Oil Co. of Louisiana, a subsidiary of Standard Oil Co. (N. J.), was shown to a group of press correspondents and high government officials in a two-day tour of the southern developments. The refining properties, strategically located near the Gulf of Mexico and on a main water artery to the interior of the United States, are at present processing 120,000 barrels of crude daily, equal to Z per cent of the country's total. This crude petroleum is refined and chemically changed to yield war materials such a s 100-octane gasoline, synthetic rubber. 950
tty F. «JL V a n A n t w e r p e n Associate Editor toluene, and ethyl alcohol. The inspection pounded home vividly the power that chemistry wields in the world of today. At times, when the members of the press group trudged through the intricate mass of reaction vessels, pipes, plants, and storage tanks, with a hot southern sun and humid delta air sending trickles of perspiration down into their shoes, they understood, not vicariously, some of the immensity of human energy that had been expended there. Though the physical Above:
Butadiene towers at Baton Rouse C H E M I C A L
equipment impressed, t h e chemical particulars were harder t o comprehend. Jersey Standard officials and top-notch chemists explained with charts, anaps, handouts, illustrations, and similes; but the understanding came slowly. Walking over the 1,000 acres that comprise the Standard Oil Co. of Louisiana refinery helped, for here they could see and touch the products they had heard so much about. Bottles of 10O-octane gasoline had to be smelled, Butyl rubber had to b e bounced and chewed, Perfcunan was fondled, but acrykmitrile, one of its components, was only a chemical jaw breaker. The press could not help hut marvel at the molecular magic displayed, for next door t o Standard Oil was the plant of the CoAN.D
E N G I N E E R I N G
NEWS
polymer Corp., makers of Buna S, getting their butadiene via pipeline from the Standard plants. Here they saw rubber materialize from a soapy solution, and emerge in the final step as a continuous sheet of amber. Chemistry was putting on a show; one of the biggest of the age. There were examples in other fields which were clear evidences of domestic industrial supremacy. In the huge hydrogenation compressor house they were shown massive 14-year old German-designed compressors, and beside them were comparatively small American machines, doing the same work and more efficiently. From the fifteenth floor of the fluid catalytic cracker they could see within the small Baton Rouge area more evidence of the workings of American chemistry. Here for the eye to see and the mind to marvel at were the plants of the Ethyl Corp. and the Aluminum Co., plus the well ordered row upon row of pipe stills, butadiene plants, two more cat crackers abuilding, and hundreds of storage tanks.
Figure 2.
Aviation gasoline production by fluid catalytic cracking
PETROLEUM'S WAR • PRODUCTS
CRUDE
OIL ftEFINEFMES
HIGH OCTANE AVIATION GASOLINE
NATURAL CA9
OIL.
NORMAL WAP»
PRODUCTS' / J ] I
MOTOfS CAROLINE DIESEL PUBIS SHIP FUEL OIL LUfrKICANTS. ETC.
COAL TAfc
BUTADIENE PLANT*
TOLUENE PLANTS
f AMMONIA AND NITfetC ACIO ^ PLANTS
STYfcENE PLANTS
\
T N T PLANTS
PLANTS
PtUBbEP*
TNT Figure 1 V O L U M E
2 1,
NO.
12
»
»
» JUNE
2 5,
1943
It was only with the actual seeing and touching that the maze and confusion slowly unraveled into a more comprehensive understanding of what American industry could do and is doing. Sunday night from the roof of the Heidelberg Hotel, they saw the blazing lights of the whole production area, and to them it looked more like an amusement park than a grim war plant. They were witnessing a miracle, the miracle of American chemistry and American production, and when on the last day President Frank Howard, said to the weary, dusty correspondents at the final luncheon that it had taken 8,500,000 man-hours and $25,000,000 for the necessary research and engineering, there was warm applause—for every man not only believed Howard, but knew that what he said must be true. There was too much engineering, the processing was too precisely integrated, the chemistry too wonderfully and fearfully known, for it to be anything but, as Howard said, the coming of age of American industry. That night the message was going to our citizens that the armies of democracy would not lack for synthetic rubber, highoctane gasoline, and toluene for TNT. A bit of irony was present also, for the days of the visit to the war plants were the first anniversary of Thurman Arnold's attack on an alleged deal with I. G. Farbenindustrie. And at Baton Rouge one year later the American public was given evidence made of steel and iron of what American industry has accomplished. Rubber Director Jeffers, who, along with Robert P. Patterson, Under-Secretary of War, James Forrestal, Navy Under-Secretary, and Ralph K. Davies, Department Petroleum Administrator for War, comprised the official party, added still more proof when he said that we could definitely forget about rubber as a problem by the end of 1944. 951
War Program
The triple-barreled program of the Standard Oil Co. of Louisiana begins with the incoming crude, a steady flow of more than 120,000 barrels daily. One third of this stream of petroleum eventually is reshipped as critically needed war materials. Figures 1 and 3 show in outline form the flow of petroleum products in the Louisiana plant. Basically there are three dominant streams of hydrocarbons; one each to the rubber, aviation gasoline, and toluene units. Actually, however, it is impossible to separate them that easily, for the production is interconnected in such a manner as to make it difficult at any one time to identify a raw material in terms of its finished product. Thus, butane may end up as isobutane, baisc alkylation ingredient, or with equal ease, it may become butadiene for Buna S, or isobutylene for Butyl rubber. However, to return to the original crude petroleum, the first process is conventional pipe still distillation. This separates the hydrocarbons into six streams, gasoline, naphthas, kerosene, gas
oil, wax oil, and heavy oil. Some of the gasoline and naphthas after proper processing are sent to the aviation gasoline pool, and the gas oil, in which w e are most interested, is sent to the catalytic crackers. The fluid catalytic cracker is now a, mainspring in the Louisiana efforts. Designed originally as a peacetime expedient for the improvement of motor fuel, the fluid process was soon recognized as an extremely important adjunct to the war program. After laboratory experiments on catalytic cracking, Standard proceeded with, the construction of a pilot pla-nt having a capacity of 100 barrels per day and costing approximately $400,000. Work on the first commercial unit began in the summer of 1940 but the Jersey engineers were delayed in the construction time and again by process improvements cooked up by the research department. Consequently, the unit was not completed until May 1942. The excellence of the original work was borne out by two facts—the unit went on the line with no headaches, and capacity exceeded designed ratings.
The raw material, as noted before, is gasoil. The products are varied. In petroleum parlance the fractions are C
