Houdry Chemicals

In the 1960s Air Products began to diversify through acquisitions, purchasing Catalytic Construction Company, a specialized engineering firm focused on gas processing. It moved into chemicals in 1962 with the purchase of Houdry Chemicals and two other small specialty chemicals companies. Then in 1971 it purchased the chemicals and plastics business unit of Air Reduction Company (Airco), a smaller rival. At the same time it acquired a small medical equipment enterprise. 

American Chemical. Society. (1996). A Mational Histone Chemical Landmark The Houdry Process for the Catalytic Conversion of Crude Petroleum to I ligh-Octane Gasoline. Washington, DC American Chemical Society. Buonora, P. T. (1998). Aimer IVicAfee at Gulf Oil. Chemical Heritage 16(2) 5-7, 44—4G. 

Enos, J. L. (1962). Petroleum Progress and Protits Allistoiy of Process Innovation. Cambridge, MA MIT Press. Mosely, C. G. (1984). Eugene Houdry, Catalytic Cracking and World War II Aviation Gasoline. Journal of Chemical Education 61 655—656. 

CATOFIN [CATalytic OleFIN] A version of the Houdry process for converting mixtures of C3 - C5 saturated hydrocarbons into olefins by catalytic dehydrogenation. The catalyst is chromia on alumina in a fixed bed. Developed by Air Products Chemicals owned by United Catalysts, which makes the catalyst, and licensed through ABB Lummus Crest. Nineteen plants were operating worldwide in 1991. In 1994, seven units were used for converting isobutane to isobutylene for making methyl /-butyl ether for use as a gasoline additive. 

Houdry The first catalytic petroleum cracking process, based on an invention by E. J. Houdiy in 1927, which was developed and commercialized by the Houdry Process Corporation. The process was piloted by the Vacuum Oil Company, Paulsboro, NJ, in the early 1930s. The catalyst was contained in a fixed bed. The first successful catalyst was an aluminosilicate mineral. Subsequently, other related catalysts were developed by Houdry in the United States, by I. G. Farbenindustrie in Germany, and by Imperial Chemical Industries in England. After World War II, the clay-based catalysts were replaced by a variety of synthetic catalysts, many based on alumino-silicates. Later, these too were replaced by zeolites. U.S. Patents 1,837,963 1,957,648 1,957,649. 

Hypotreating A process for desulfurizing and hydrogenating petroleum fractions. Developed by the Houdry Process and Chemical Company. 

Litol Also called Houdry-Litol. A process for making benzene by dealkylating other aromatic hydrocarbons. It is a complex process which achieves desulfurization, removal of paraffins and naphthenes, and saturation of unsaturated compounds, in addition to dealkylation. The catalyst contains cobalt and molybdenum. Developed by the Houdiy Process and Chemical Company and Bethlehem Steel Corporation. First installed by the Bethlehem Steel Corporation in 1964. Subsequently used at British Steel s benzole refinery, Teesside, England. 

Pyrotol A process for making benzene from pyrolysis gasoline by hydrocracking. Developed by Houdry Process and Chemical Company. In 1987, 13 units were operating worldwide. 

Historians sometimes point to Earth Day 1970 as the beginning of the modern environmental movement. And in some important ways, they are correct. But many people were worried about the dangers posed by polluted air decades before that event. One such individual was the French-born American chemist Eugene Houdry. Houdry spent much of his professional career studying the nature of catalysis, the process by which the rate of a chemical reaction is changed by the addition of a nonreactive substance. 

Naugatuck Chemical Co. From E. I. du Pont de Nemours Co. From Houdry Process Corp. 3 pKb, A. Farkas and K. G. Flynn, J. Amer. 

The inherent variability of the raw mineral, particularly with respect to minor constituents which in certain cases were known to have major effects on the cracking reaction, led to the development by the Houdry Process Corp. of a synthetic silica-alumina catalyst of controlled chemical composition and more stable catalytic properties. Full scale manufacture of synthetic catalyst was started in 1939. 

The scope and depth of his work is reflected by the numerous awards he received, among them the Eugene H. Houdry Award in Applied Catalysis, the Chemical Pioneer Award, and the following American Chemical Society awards The Fritzsche Award for his contributions to terpene chemistry, the Petroleum Chemistry Award, and the E. V. Murphree Award in Industrial and Engineering Chemistry. 

Fig. 3. Quinoline chemisorption at 315° as a function of activity for cracking light East Texas gas-oil (32). O, Si02-Al203 Houdry type S) , SiOj-1% Al203 , clay catalyst (fil-trol) O, SiOj-MgO V, Si02-Zr02. (Reprinted with permission of the American Chemical Society.)...

There are two main routes for the removal of poisons one is based on chemical, the other on thermal treatment. One of the first patents for the regeneration of automotive catalysts was filed by Houdry and Calvert... 

The developers of new processes have found it at times more expedient to set up their own separate entities to supply the catalysts they were advocating. Allied-Signal s subsidiary UOP did so for its platforming Houdry for its catalytic cracking Ralph Landau for the silver catalyst used for direct ethylene oxidation, which was marketed by Halcon SD and subsequently taken over by Denka, then by Bayer and Phillips Chemical for its polyolefin catalysts, sold through its subsidiary, Catalyst Resources. 

Other Isobutane-Based Chemicals. Isobutane can be directly dehydrogenated to isobutylene by a modification of the Houdry process. This can then be converted to MTBE. The estimated use is over 1 billion lb of isobutane. Because of their inertness and higher vapor pressures, high-purity propane and butanes have become the important substitutes for fluorocarbons as aerosol propellants. Isobutane can also be used as a solvent in polymer processing, and as a blowing agent for foamed polystyrene. 

DETOL [DE-alkylation of TOLuene] A process for making benzene by de-alkylating toluene and other aromatic hydrocarbons. Developed by the Houdry Process and Chemical Company, and generally similar to its Litol process for the same purpose. The catalyst is chromia on alumina. Licensed by ABB Lummus Global. Twelve plants, had been licensed in 1987. 

In 1940, Houdry Process Corporation initiated commercial manufacture of a synthetic silica-alumina catalyst at Paulsboro, New Jersey (133). The synthetic catalyst is produced in pellet form (51,265) and contains 12 to 13% alumina (221,276). It has the advantages of controlled chemical composition, higher purity, and greater heat stability, but is more expensive than the activated-clay catalyst. 

G. A. Mills, Houdry Process and Chemical Company, Marcus Hook,... 

The Houdry Catadiene process was used extensively for the production of butadiene, either by itself (n-butane to butadiene) or in conjunction with catalytic oxydehydrogenation of n-butene to butadiene. The latter was commercialized by the Petro-Tex Chemical Corp. and was called the Oxo-D process. A similar oxydehydrogenation approach for the production of butadiene was also adopted by Phillips Petroleum in their 0-X-D process. ... 

Litol Houdry Process and Chemical Co. Typically any cut boiling in the range of 60-150°C High-purity benzene and xylenes... 

Pyrotol Houdry Process and Chemical Co. Pyrolysis gasoline impure BTx fractions High-purity benzene... 

Cracking of this kind can only take place in the presence of catalysts. These are substances that are capable of starting chemical actions without themselves undergoing appreciable change. The process was developed in 1933 by a French engineer, Houdry. It allowed the huge production of aviation fuels needed during the Second World War. 

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