“... we [must] diversify our energy sources and reduce our dependency on foreign oil:"
Mary Bono Mack, U.S. politician
It is thanks to Russian Vladimir Shukhov (1853-1939) that we can meet the fuel demand for modern engines. In 1891 he designed a refinery to convert crude oil into more useful things like gasoline and kerosene. Crude oil is a naturally occurring fluid that consists of a mix of hydrocarbons of various molecular lengths. Crude oil straight from the ground does not burn well, although its smaller molecules, which burn more easily, can be extracted by using fractional distillation. However, a large portion always remains as larger molecules. To make these long-chain molecules burn more easily, they can be broken into shorter chains by a process called thermal cracking.
Shukhov patented a method of heating and pressurizing the oil to the extent that it would start to breakup into smaller molecules. This thermal cracking was a precursor to the Burton Process, developed by William Merriam Burton in 1913, which doubled the production of gasoline. In 1937 both of these methods were superseded by catalytic cracking, which works in a similar way but with a catalyst to help the reaction. Catalytic cracking is more economical because it can take place at lower temperatures and pressures.
The oil industry is looking for even more efficient ways to extract and process crude oil before economic. sources run out and oil refineries become obsolete.
