William meriam burton inventor cleveland
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William Burton
The crude oil upon which we depend for so many types of fuel and other products does not come out of the ground ready for all of its various uses. It must be converted into simpler molecules via processes known in the petroleum industry as “cracking.”
Cracking processes break the complex, organic molecules found in petroleum down into simpler, more useful byproducts and can be achieved by applying heat, steam, heavy pressure, or a chemical catalyst to the oil.
One of the most important forms of cracking, catalytic cracking, was invented by William Meriam Burton in Burton’s is known as the first commercially successful method for cracking crude oil into gasoline and related products. His work made it possible for oil companies to more than double the gasoline yield from crude oil. His process was adopted as a standard among American oil companies as the industry exploded in the early part of the 20th century.
Born in Cleveland, Ohio, on November 17, , Burton earned a BA from Western Reserve University in and completed a PhD in Chemistry at Johns Hopkins University in From there, he took a job as a chemist with Standard Oil Co. in Cleveland. A year later, he transferred to Standard Oil of Indiana.
At the turn of the century, oil companies distilled crude
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William Meriam Burton
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William Merriam Burton
American chemist
For other people with the same name, see William Burton (disambiguation).
William Merriam Burton (November 17, &#; December 29, ) was an American chemist who developed a widely used thermal cracking process for crude oil.[1]
Burton was born in Cleveland, Ohio. In , he received a Bachelor of Science degree at Western Reserve University. He earned a PhD at Johns Hopkins University in
Burton initially worked for the Standard Oil refinery at Whiting, Indiana. He became president of Standard Oil from to , when he retired.
The process of thermal cracking invented by Burton, which became U.S. patent 1,, on January 7, , doubled the yield of gasoline that can be extracted from crude oil.
The first thermal cracking method, the Shukhov cracking process, was invented by Russian engineer Vladimir Shukhov (), in the Russian empire, Patent No. , November 27,
Burton died in Miami, Florida.