Inside Story of Modern Gasoline, The (1946)

la two great gasolines standard Red Crown and standard White Crown the fuels that power This Modern Age on the the highways on the farm and their Kindred Aviation fuels in the air here is the inside story of these modern [Music] gasolines hello folks I'm a carbon atom and since I'm an essential part of each of the hydrocarbons in crude oil I'm here to give you the inside dopee on gasoline I'm the smallest possible particle of carbon why I'm so small a thousand billion atoms like me could dance on the head of a pin scientists know I act as though I had four arms and these fellas who are the hydrogen members of this combination have only one arm we're going to form a molecule watch I grab hold of hydrogens like this then another carbon in doing this we make a kind of chain see when we're together the combination is a hydrocarbon molecule one of the many many different hydrocarbons for instance we have formed a typical gasoline molecule now I want you to meet some of my relatives who form in the same way but have different patterns I'm another hydrocarbon a gas [Music] molecule my size makes me a typical kerosene molecule I'm one of the fuel oil molecules a light lubricating oil molecule that's me I'm a heavy lubricating oil molecule all of these carbons and hydrogens make me a residual material those molecules so you see there are lots of different molecules different sizes different shapes all found in crude oil still the best raw material for the great motor fuels of today from it science builds gasoline selecting the groups of molecules wanted and changing their sizes and shapes as required to do this job calls for great storage tanks to maintain a constant supply of crude oil batteries of pumps a maze of valves and [Music] pipes Mighty facilities and an army of experienced specially trained workers the first step is to separate the crude oil into the parts that you saw a moment ago this is done by distillation you know that when you boil water the vapors can be condensed the same principle is used in distilling crude oil giant units with bubble Towers condense Vapors just as the cold tumbler did here in a single Tower much simplified crude oil is separated into the different fractions needed for gasoline kerosene fuel oil and other petroleum products here we see the crude oil being heated most of it is vaporized at the bottom of the bubble Tower un vaporized large molecules of heavy Lube oil and residual materials are drawn off at the second level the light Lube boil is condensed out of the vapor and withdrawn at the third level the largest of the lighter remaining molecules condensed to form the fuel oil cut at the fourth level kerosene is condensed and drawn off at the fifth level the gasoline molecules become liquid leaving the very light gas molecules to go out the top of the bubble tow in the average crude oil only a limited amount of gasoline is present so let's see what we might get from this simple distillation a barrel of crude oil produces 20% residual fuel oil and asphalt 7% Lube oil and wax 39% gas oil and fuel oil 15% kerosene 1% gas and gasoline only [Music] 18% not nearly enough for today's millions of cars but scientists of the Standard Oil Company Indiana invented the cracking process enabling refiners to make more than twice as much gasoline from each barrel of crew today were it not for the demands for fuel oil and diesel fuel almost the whole Barrel could be converted into [Music] gasoline by making more gasoline cracking has conserved our natural resources and at the same time made gasolines of higher antino quality for greater performance and economy here's a typical gas oil molecule to be cracked you are already familiar with the way it's constructed to crack it heat is applied under precisely controlled conditions more heat than is needed for [Music] distillation and now folks you are watching science change a molecule into more useful [Music] ones on the left are two gasoline molecules on the right are gas and carbon all of obtained from cracking one gas oil molecule thus science creates gasoline where none existed before high antiock gas here are some of the great units that do the cracking and here's one that cracks tens of thousands of barrels of gas oil each day standard's continuing leadership was also strengthened by other processes one is called polymerization it simply takes molecules that are too to small for gasoline such as these gas [Music] molecules unites them by the polymerization process to form a larger molecule a gasoline molecule of exceptionally high antok value thus science again fashions for us more and better products by a somewhat different process this alkal unit joins together two different molecules to make another high octane gasoline component in this unit a hydr forer changes the shape of molecules and takes out some of their hydrogen to make still more High antino material finally a process where cracking is affected by a catalyst a reaction promoter that itself remains [Music] unchanged the most modern method uses catalysts in a fine powder that will flow like a fluid here's what happens inside a fluid catalytic cracker gas oil is heated it is joined by the hot finely powdered Catalyst shown here as little white grains the hot oil and the still hotter Catalyst then move together through pipes up into a chamber called the reactor and are tumbled about here the heavy oil molecules are cracked by catalytic action to produce gasoline molecules shown in red these move out at the top as the Catalyst becomes covered with Coke it becomes less active and is drawn off at the bottom air blows it through a pipe to the regenerator where the coke is burned off this reheats the Catalyst which which again joins the flow of incoming oil here's the entire operation showing the complete cycle notice that the same catalyst is used over and over again in this the most modern method of gasoline manufacturing it takes a complicated unit to do the job every 2 minutes a whole carload of catalyst passes through the lines 16 St is high each of the company's big cat crackers can produce enough gasoline in one day to last the average motorist 1,000 years contrast the modern unit you have just seen with this historic Burton cracking still at fighting Indiana the first successful commercial cracking unit though the amount of oil in today's catalytic cracking units is actually less than in the old Burton units the Catalyst cracks the gas oil more than 7,000 times faster and so permits much greater throughput it is one more demonstration of leadership through science to build top gasoline performance today there are two major requirements proper volatility and proper antido quality let's take the first one volatility the tendency to change from liquid to Vapor the driver may not know a cat cracker from a firecracker but he knows when his engine starts and he wants it to warm up without coughing and sputtering but starting and warm-up are not the whole story in All Seasons the motorist wants quick [Music] acceleration he wants economy too mileage and that calls for a scientific balance of gasoline components you know how easy it is to ignite gas which is made up of small molecules here's a mixture of liquid hydrocarbon so light and volatile that the heat of a hand will make it boil it's inflammable and so volatile it ignites plenty fast now here are some of the heavier less volatile hydrocarbons the lighted taper does not ignite them yet when vaporized and burned in an engine they pack a lot of power and give mileage to make a gasoline blend that will have a proper combination of volatility characteristics first we put in the very light hydrocarbons for quick starting the next heavier ones have rapid warm-up then some that give instant acceleration and the final portion for full power and good mileage the Blended gasoline has the desired range of performance with economy because it contains just the right groups of hydrocarbon molecules one for instance starting but so active that in the summer he should be used only in moderation one for Rapid warmup one for smooth acceleration and one for full power and good mileage molecules that work together a harmonic T in the engine laboratory by means of a glass intake manifold you can actually see one of the volatility differences between fuels slowing down the action here's what two low volatility causes a wet manifold and imperfect distribution these liquid droplets decrease engine performance waste mileage and dilute the crank case oil switching to a fuel with proper volatility vaporization is complete and there's no waste to assure trouble-free performance at all times fuels are tested out on the road as well as in the laboratory in all types of engines and under all of the different seasonal and climatic conditions of use under City driving and trip conditions in hot weather and coal seasonal variations and the climates of different regions must be taken into a that is why the Standard Oil Company Indiana adjusts volatility to suit the season and the region in which its gasolines will be used a distillation test measures the volatility of motor gas leine the results here plotted form a typical distillation curve for a gasoline of proper volatility now for the next major requirement the prevention of fuel [Applause] KN the motorist wants smooth controlled application of power using a special demonstrator I shall show the difference between poor performance and good performance now with the hard face of this Mallet I strike the Piston the Piston you see receives a punishing wrap showing how power is wasted when gasoline knocks this time I shall use the cushion face of the Mallet to show what happens when gasoline does not knock smooth useful power propels the Piston sends the crank spinning a performance difference you've seen is a mighty important one that you ought to understand better so let's look inside the engine by means of animation and see what happens when the fuel [Music] Burns these gasoline molecules have not been improved on or controlled by science they are untamed and Unruly what you will see next actually takes place in about 1 1500th of a [Music] second first the spark ignites the compressed fuel charge now watch for the knock in this greatly slowed down action you could see that with this gasoline combustion was uneven and uncontrolled and at the end there was a jarring violent explosion a knock that pounded and shook the engine now we shall repeat the [Music] action watch again for the [Music] [Applause] knock now with gasoline made up of molecules that have been science fashioned so that they have the required antiock quality molecules that stay under control and work as a team let's see what [Music] happens note in this case that the combustion is more uniform and there is no knock the big difference as you could see is that with gasoline of the required anti-ock quality there is no knock combustion is smooth and even and completely under [Music] control now we shall repeat the action watch how the combustion proceeds as it should smoothly and without the interference caused by knocking in the modern High compression engine modern gasoline gives the greater performance required today the car accelerates more rapidly climbs Hills faster travels more miles per gallon in addition to fashioning the molecules to prevent fuel knock refineries usually add minute quantities of tetraethyl lead to help accomplish the same purpose this model shows how just the right amount of fluid containing tetraethyl lead and dye is added to the gasoline in the knock Testing Laboratories test engines are used to make sure that the proper anti-ock quality has been built into standard oils gasolines the high antiock reference fuel is called ISO octane hence the expression octane number this test engine is equipped with a dial indicator that shows just how B the engine is knocking with a fuel of low octane number here's how it sounds switching to a high octane number fuel the knocking diminishes and finally Fades out [Music] completely this illustrates the smooth even performance you get from standard Red Crown and standard White Crown the engineer had his say but modern processes and skillful knowhow are not enough there must also be safeguards you can depend on it that Standard Oil Company Indiana constantly checks and inspects its fuels by every needed control test for example the vapor pressure test that controls vapor lock Tendencies a test to make sure there is no harmful gum another to make sure that today's fine gasolines will not deteriorate in storage a test that guards against corrosive [Music] impurities testing testing testing another of the 1500 and more daily control tests in addition these great Laboratories are entirely devoted to extensive research carried on by hundreds of capable scientists working on more and still better products for the [Music] future Cooperative work with the automobile industry guarantees that the right gasoline will always be available for any car that's developed put all of this together and you have what it takes to deliver today's and tomorrow's great motor fuels huge units like this super fractionator and the other multi-million dollar units that go to make up the great modern refineries of the Standard Oil Company Indiana with the tradition of pioneers behind us and better facilities ahead of us future progress leading to still finer products is assured so there's the store story folks and I'm proud to be a part of it even if only is a tiny atom inside modern [Music] gasoline this is what's behind the gasoline you cell whether from tank truck or on the service station driveway behind these symbols of service is a great record of scientific achievement that certifies today's lead leadership and guarantees tomorrows