M URPHREE A WARD SYMPOSIUM
Ca tu lytic Process Development Alex G. Oblad, 1969 recipient of the E. V. MurDr.phree Award in Industrial and Engineering Chemistry, has been creatively connected with a staggering variety of new industrial process developments. Included are : 1. The M. W. Kellogg ammonia process 2. Kellogg’s vinyl chloride process 3. Houdriflow catalytic cracking 4. Houdriforming naphthas to high octane gasoline 5. Catalysts for steam reforming hydrocarbons a t low steam-carbon ratios. 6. Hydroforming pyrolysis gasoline 7. Dabco, a catalyst used in polyurethane foams He chose the time of receipt of this award to reveal yet another new process developed under his aegis-the Kel-Chlor process described in this issue. In addition, he has been involved in hydrocracking, hydrodesulfurization, and dehydrogenation of cycloparaffins to aromatics. Along the way, Dr. Oblad and his colleagues first proposed and then helped document the proposition that cracking centers on catalyst surfaces are Lewis acid sites and the separate proposition that, in dual functional catalysts, there are separate acid and hydrogenation sites and that adsorbed molecules transfer between them during the catalytic reaction. Alex received his B.A. and M.A. from University of Utah, his Ph.D. in physical chemistry from Purdue in 1937. He began his industrial career at Standard Oil Co. (Ind.) as a research chemist. I n 1942, he moved to Magnolia Petroleum as group leader in fundamental research, supervisor in 1944, and chief of all chemical research in 1946. Later that year, when Magnolia’s
Alex Oblad
chemical research division was transferred to SoconyVacuum Oil Co., Alex became head of the industrial research division of the Texas Research Foundation. I n 1947, Dr. Oblad moved to Houdry Process Corp. as director of chemical research, studying the nature of catalysis and developing new catalysts, new petroleum processes, and petrochemicals. Out of this work came the Houdriflow process and Houdriforming. I n 1958, he moved to Kellogg as vice president of research and development, where his scientists and engineers have generated the new processes and catalysts mentioned earlier. At the Minneapolis ACS meeting this spring, Dr. Oblad’s colleagues and competitors gathered in a symposium honoring his contributions to their industry and their technology. Two of the papers presented a t the symposium appear here to introduce the medalist and to place in perspective the immenseness of his contributions over the years.
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