William Merriam Burton (November 17, 1865 – December 29, 1954) was an American
chemist
A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties. Chemists carefully describe t ...
who developed a widely used
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 for
crude oil.
Burton was born in
Cleveland
Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...
,
Ohio
Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...
. In 1886, he received a
Bachelor of Science
A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years.
The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University o ...
degree at
Western Reserve University
Western may refer to:
Places
*Western, Nebraska, a village in the US
*Western, New York, a town in the US
* Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western world, countries that i ...
. He earned a
PhD at
Johns Hopkins University
Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hemisphere. It consi ...
in 1889.
Burton initially worked for the
Standard Oil refinery at
Whiting, Indiana. He became president of Standard Oil from 1918 to 1927, when he retired.
The process of thermal cracking invented by Burton, which became on January 7, 1913, doubled the yield of
gasoline
Gasoline (; ) or petrol (; ) (see ) is a transparent, petroleum-derived flammable liquid that is used primarily as a fuel in most spark-ignited internal combustion engines (also known as petrol engines). It consists mostly of organi ...
that can be extracted from crude oil.
The first thermal
cracking method, the Shukhov cracking process, was invented by
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...
n engineer
Vladimir Shukhov (1853-1939), in the Russian empire, Patent No. 12926, November 27, 1891.
Burton died in
Miami
Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...
,
Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
.
See also
*
Cracking (chemistry)
*
Burton process The Burton process is a thermal cracking process invented by William Merriam Burton 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 fa ...
*
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 ...
References
External links
Information on cracking in oil refining
1865 births
1954 deaths
American chemists
American energy industry businesspeople
People in the petroleum industry
Oil refining
American chemical engineers
Scientists from Cleveland
People from Whiting, Indiana
Engineers from Ohio
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