100 OCTANE WEEK

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United States Armed Forces have designated May 1-7, 1944 as “100 Octane Week” to pay tribute to the THEindustry’s great achievement in producing the vast quantities of this aviation super-fuel needed for the air armadas of the United Nations. At this time it is fitting to record the pioneering part played by scientists, engineers, and other employees of companies affiliated with Company .() in development of aviation . To date 1 out of every 4 U. S. and British warplanes has been powered by 100 octane produced by the men and women of companies affiliated with Standard Oil Company (New Jersey). During 1943 these men and women produced two and one half times as much 100 octane gasoline as they had produced in 1942. No other group in the world has made greater contributions to the development of aviation fuels. The roots of these achievements go deep into the past. Here is a brief summary of their record—

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1903: KITTY HAWK-A Standard Oil Company only as a yardstick of fuel quality (100% iso-octane the use of the full-scale high pressure catalytic (New Jersey) refinery supplied the gasoline for the ■>=100 octane number) was previously available hydrogenation plant at Baton Rouge. For years this Wright brothers’ history-making flight. only at extremely high cost plant produced more synthetic high octane aviation base stock than all other United Nations refineries combined. 1924: TETRAETHYL LEAD (ETHYL FLUID)-The 1929-1934: ARMY EXPERIMENTAL PROGRAM- entire world’s commercial production of tetraethyl Standard Oil Company (New Jersey) fuel techni- lead, the astounding knock preventive discovered in cians cooperated with U. S. Army air experts at 1938: ALKYLATION—The first commercial alkyla- in their devel- 1921 by Midgely of , is based on the Wright Field, Dayton, early engine tion plant was placed in operation at the Baytown process developed by Standard Oil Company (N.J.) opment program of evaluating high octane gasoline Refinery of Humble Oil and Refining Company, technicians and demonstrated first in May, 1924, for military aircraft. Thousands of gallons of high- Standard Oil Co. (N. J.) affiliate, in September, octane fuels were at Standard Oil’s Bayway, New Jersey, Refinery. experimental supplied during 1938, thus opening a vast new field in reducing costs Tetraethyl lead today more than doubles the avail- this period. and increasing supply of 100 octane. The alkylation able quantity of 100 octane gasoline. process now provides the major share of high octane 1934: COMMERCIAL ISO-OCTANE Runs on blending agents. 1927-1937: EARLY TRANS-ATLANTIC FLIGHTS plant-type equipment, demonstrating the practica- —By 1937, 87 of the p 1 successful tram-Atlantic J bility of making iso-octa&e atc9mmercla|,rateie|id ,1940: ISOMERIZATION — The first commercial flights had used our aviatfdn gasoline, and no flight using commercial feed stocks had beeit ma^ at isomerization plant, used to derive critically impor- Baton in a of using our gasoline had failed. Rouge, by September, 1934, plant tant iso-butane from plentiful normal butane, was ■ .4 \ > v % Standard Oil of Standard Oil Cbm- -'4 Company La., put into operation at the Soengei Qerong Refinery, pany (N. affiliate. This process 1927: CATALYSTS IN REFINING—The process of J.) revolutionary Palembang, Sumatra, N.EJ., of Nederlandsche Ko- catalytic hydrogenation of petroleum was first (technically: high pressure hydrogenation using loniale Petroleum Maatschappij, Standard Oil sulfur-resistant remained for a ma- brought to this country by Standard Oil Company catalyst) years Company (N. J.) affiliate, in March, 1940. (This jor source of synthetic iso-octane for 100 octane (New Jersey) inNovember, 1927. The process rep- plant was destroyed two years later to keep it out it still contributes an resents the first large-scale application of catalysts gasoline. Today important of the hands of the Japs.) share of critical octane components to extend to the oil industry. Catalytic processes are a basic high Isomerization is today a vitally important source the of 100 octane. technique in making 100 octane. supply of essential raw material for 100 octane. Experience from the operation of this first plant has been of im- 1935: DISTRIBUTION OF 100 OCTANE BEGINS use to our technicians in of the 1929: COMMERCIAL SYNTHETIC FUELS One portant development —So far as we commercial distribution of 100 now used for one-third of all the world’s thousand gallons of di-iso-butylene produced in know, process octane commenced with the of isomerization capacity. plant scale equipment at , Stand- gasoline delivery about ten barrels of finished 100 octane ard Oil Company of N. J., first demonstrated the gasoline by Carter Oil Standard Oil basic procedure for synthesis of high octane fuels Company, Company (N.J.) 1942: FLUID CATALYTIC -The first affiliate, to the Municipal Airport, Tulsa, Okla- and opened the way to the essential low-cost high catalytic cracking plant utilizing the remarkable homa, on June 29, 1935, for use in the Southwest octane blending agents which made 100 octane “fluid” principle, designed by Standard Oil Com- Air Races that year. gasoline possible. In cooperation with the Ethyl pany (New Jersey) engineers, was put into opera- Corporation and a chemical company, this 1,000 tion in May, 1942. gallons of di-iso-butylene was converted by hydro- 1937: SYNTHETIC AVIATION FUEL BASE STOCK With the completion of the nation’s present con- genation into iso-octane (2, 2, 4—tri-methyl-pen- — Commercial use of catalytic processes for syn- struction program, the fluid catalytic cracking proc- tane) and sold throughout the oil industry for re- thetic 100 octane base stocks was inaugurated by ess becomes the major new factor in the industry’s search and test purposes. Iso-octane, at first used Standard Oil Company of La. in June, 1937, with capacity for producing 100 octane gasoline.

ALL developments, processes, patents and know-how of our engineers and chemists in 100 octane have been made available Xjl. to t^ie industry. We have cooperated in speeding production and extending supplies of 100 octane. ” In the keen devotion of our employees to the job in hand, there has not been a single strike or "slow-down in this com- pany or its affiliates since long before Pearl Harbor. % Recognized leaders in this field, recipients in 1939 of the Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering Award, for their work in super-fuels, displaying three Army-Navy "E’s" for other accomplishments in war production, participants in an outstanding and continuing production achievement, these employees may well look with pride at the record they bring to "100 Octane Week."

STANDARD OIL COMPANY (NEW JERSEY)

AND AFFILIATED COMPANIES