The Burton process is a

thermal cracking In petrochemistry, petroleum geology and organic chemistry, cracking is the process whereby complex organic molecules such as kerogens or long-chain hydrocarbons are broken down into simpler molecules such as light hydrocarbons, by the breaking of ...

process invented by

William Merriam Burton William Merriam Burton (November 17, 1865 – December 29, 1954) was an American chemist who developed a widely used thermal cracking process for crude oil. Burton was born in Cleveland, Ohio. In 1886, he received a Bachelor of Science deg ...

and Robert E. Humphreys, each of whom held a PhD in chemistry from Johns Hopkins University. The process they developed is often called the Burton process. More fairly, though, it should be known as the Burton-Humphreys process, since both men played key roles in its development. This issue was settled in court, although the decision gave primary recognition to Burton. The process uses the destructive distillation of crude oil heated in a still under pressure. In this revolutionary still, different products emerging from a bubble tower at different temperatures and pressures. Of critical importance, the use of these stills more than doubled the production of gasoline from most kinds of oil. The first large-scale use of these towers began with the decision by Standard Oil of Indiana to build 120 stills for an appropriation of $709,000, authorized in 1911. This decision was taken just as the US Supreme Court ordered the dissolution of the Standard Oil Trust. This thermal cracking process was

patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A p ...

ed on January 7, 1913 (Patent No. 1,049,667). The first

method, the

Shukhov cracking process The Shukhov cracking process is a thermal cracking process invented by Vladimir Shukhov and Sergei Gavrilov. Shukhov designed and built the first thermal cracking device for the petrochemical industry. His patent (Shukhov cracking process – p ...

, was invented by

Vladimir Shukhov Vladimir Grigoryevich Shukhov (russian: link=no, Влади́мир Григо́рьевич Шу́хов; – 2 February 1939) was a Russian Empire and Soviet engineer-polymath, scientist and architect renowned for his pioneering works on new ...

(Patent of

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

No. 12926 on November 27, 1891). While the Russians contended that the Burton process was essentially a slight modification of the Shukhov process, Americans refused to concede and the Burton-Humphreys patent remained in use. Ultimately, it contributed to the development of petrochemicals.Giddens, op. cit., pp. vi-vii In 1937 the Burton process was superseded by catalytic cracking, but it is still in use today to produce

diesel Diesel may refer to: * Diesel engine, an internal combustion engine where ignition is caused by compression * Diesel fuel, a liquid fuel used in diesel engines * Diesel locomotive, a railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engin ...

References

{{reflist Chemical processes Petroleum technology

See also

References