Petroleum Chemistry

by Doris Kolb
Illinois Central College
East Peoria, IL 61635
in cooperation with
Kenneth E. Kolb
Bradley University
Peoria. IL 61625

T h e chemistry of petroleum is a subject often ignored in

standard chemistry courses. This is unfortunate because the
petroleum refinery is one of the most important chemical
nlants in the world. About half of our e n e r w needs in the
bnited States are currently being met by petrxleum products
(easoline. diesel fuel. furnace oil.. .
oetroleum eases, etc.) and
;major skgmeut of our chemical industry depends for i& raw
materials on petrochemicals (ethene, propene, hutenes, benzene, toluene, xylenes, etc.). T o overlook petroleum is to miss
out on some of the most significant facets of contemporary
chemistry.
History
Exactly how it originated no one knows. We believe petroleum to be of marine origin derived from living matter that
existed perhaps as long as 500 million years ago. Radioactive
dating indicates that even the newest oil deposits are a t least
50 million years old. Present theory holds that crude oil was
produced through the action of anaerobic microbes lowering
the oxygen and nitrogen content of what had been living organic matter.
The earliest records we have of man usine oetroleum eo
back to about 3000 B.C. At that time seepage; of aspha&
bitumen were collected in Mesoootamia for wateroroofine
ships and canals, for paving roads, for making biicks for
building (by mixing with sand and fibers), and for use as a
general purpose "glue". These uses continued in the Middle
East until about 600 B.C. when those lands were subjugated,
first by the Persians and then by the Greeks. The Greeks, who
had plenty of stone and wood for building, apparently were
not interested in this black sticky tar. Thus petroleum was
largely neglected by ancient Greece, and its use was not passed
on to the Romans and the rest of western Eurooe.
Interest in petroleum did survive among t h e ~ r a b show,
ever, and by 1000 A.D. they were distilling crude oil to ohtain
kerosene for burning in order to produce light.. During the
destruction of Cairo in 1077 A.D. kerosene was used to fuel the
tire. Arab and Mongol armivs I)orh appear IO have used a type
of i)errolrum fed tlamr thrower in thrir wars around 1200, bu?
there seems to have been little, if any, technological carry-over
to Europe.
With the discoverv of the western hemisotiere and the
oprning ut the New World, rherca was renewed interest in rhe
use of i~etruleun~.
since it wah both available and nevd(:d. Its
first kajor use was a s caulking material for the big wooden
sailing ships. Cuban asphalt deposits became important for
the necessary job of periodic recaulking. The Cuban natives
had long used petroleum, not only as acaulking compound but
also as a liniment for sore muscles and cuts, and even as a kind
of chewing gum.
The Age of lllumlnatlon
By the heginning of the 19th century the uses of petroleum
were still rather trivial, but the industrial revolution had
begun and urban areas were expanding. Though working
hours were long and many workers were exploited, the overall
standard of living started to rise. There was a need for better
lighting as the cities continued to grow and became more ac-

tive in the evening. In London some illumination was obtained

from bottled gas produced by thermal cracking of fish and
whale oil. (It was from this cracked gas that Faraday discovered benzene in 1825.) In America, night time illumination
came mainly from the fireplace and from bowls of animal fat
or fish oil burning hv means of wicks.
During the perrod 1830-50 several new illuminating fuels
were developed. Camphene from turoentine (obtained bv
steam distilling pine tree stumps) was k e d in this country as
fuel for lanterns. Candles made from refined lard beean to be
produced industrially. In Europe the production ofcoke for
reducing iron ore resulted in large quantities of by-product
coal oil. This oil, a mixture of hydrocarbons, was also found
to he well suited for use as fuel in lanterns.
In America the increased demand for illuminatine fuels
niused llenjamin Sillitnun at Ysle University to study the
wmposiriun ~rfprfroleum.He found rhar crude oil could he
distilled to give-as much as 50% of a material similar to coal
oil and thus useful for lighting. To satisfy the demand for more
lighting fuel, Edwin Drake drilled the first oil well a t Titusville, Pennsylvania, in 1859. T h e oil was distilled to produce
a fraction of hydrocarhons with about 9 to 18 carbons per
molecule (called kerosene) for use as illuminating fuel. T h e
more volatile fraction containine comnounds of 5 to 8 carbons
~ (called naphtha) found 1imited;se &a solvent, especially for
paints. Often there was not much need for the naphtha, so the
excess was simply dumped into the rivers (which occasionally
caught fire!), an early example of industrial pollution. The
heavy higher boiling oils were used for lubrication in place of
animal and vegetable oils, which tended to be less stable. The
material left after distillation, the asphaltic tar, was used for
paving streets and waterproofing roofs. From 1859 until the
20th century the pnduction of ken~srnefor lighting and oils
I'or lubricnrion ren~aii~ed
the major uses of prrruleum.
~~

Impact of Autos and Electric Lights

The beginning of the 20th century was a turning point in
the history of petroleum. By 1900 two new technologies had
appeared that would have a drastic effect not only onthe petroleum industry but on the whole of modern society. These
were the electric light and the gasoline powered automobile.
Since gasoline was a mixture of hydrocarbons of 5 to 12 carhons,pasoline was essentiallv iust another name for the often
surpl& naphtha. The petroieim refiners could now sell kerosene for lighting and naphtha, or gasoline, for motor fuel.
However, demand for gasoline soon began to sky-rocket along
with production of automobiles. While a eallon of kerosene
might suffice in a household for a week o; more, a gallon of
gasoline could be burned in minutes. By 1910 there was a laree
denland for naphtha nnd a surplua c l r kerusrnr, nor m l y be(XUSP kerosene was uied nt a muderatc rate but also hecause
the electric light was replacing the kerosene lantern in the
cities.
During the first decade of the 20th centurv several American companies established laboratories for research. In 1910
a t the Standard Oil Co. (Indiana) William Burton initiated
a study to increase the amount of gasoline available from a
barrel of crude oil. Since kerosene had become a surplus ma~

Volume 56, Number 7, July 1979 / 465

terial, his approach was to try to convert it t o gasoline. 'The

kerosene molecules were approximately twice the size of
gasoline molecules, so perhaps they could he "cracked" into
smaller molecules. Burton and his coworkers developed a
process for subjecting the kerosene distillate to high temperatures (600-700C) and cracking the molecules into
smaller fragments. An idealized equation is shown here for
cracking a 16 carbon molecule into two smaller ones with 8
carbons each.

Notice that one of the products is an alkene and the other an

alkane. t311chu cracking pnxc~\si~ctuallygives a mixture of
alknnti and alkenes, not lust two as shown here ) T h e pnxluct
hydrocarbons containing5 to 12 carbons are useful as gasoline,
while small molecules such as methane, ethene, and propene
can be used as fuel to reach the temperatures needed for
cracking.
Thermal cracking had become a commercial process by
1913. So great had the demand for gasoline become that soon
other oil companies were also using the Burton thermal
cracking process. The original process was carried out in crude
pressure-cooker type reactors. They had riveted seams that
would often leak when they were heated. Workmen who
tended these leaking reactors (which sometimes exploded) had
a grimy, dangerous job. During the 1920's the batch operation
was gradually replaced by one involving thermal treatment
.
only was this new
of the oil as it flowed through
- .p i -~ e s Not
process continuous, but it also had the advantage of giving less
coke formation. The inventor of this improved continuous
process was C. P. Dubhs, whose full name happened to he
Carbon Petroleum Duhbs.
The Octane Scale

By 1920 the gasoline powered car, typified by Ford's model

T. was becominc nart of the American culture. No longer was

the car a playti;& of the few; it was a practical means of
transportation for many. It soon became clear that all gasoline
was not equal in quality. Some gasolines seemed to cause excessiveengine noise. Chemists found that gasoline produced
considerable preignition or "knock" if it contained mainly
straight chain alkanes, such as hexane (C6H14), heptane
(C?Hln).
Even the lowest compression
. ,
, and octane (CaHld.
. engine would audibly knock when gasoline made u i o f these
straight chain alkanes was used. However, branched chain
alkanes had a greatly diminished tendency to knock. While
normal octane was a very poor motor fuel, a hranched isomer,
2,2,4-tri-methylpentane ("isooctane"), was found to have
excellent combustion properties. It was postulated that
hranched alkanes burned in a more controllable manner than
the straight chain compounds in an engine. An arbitrary
gasoline rating scale was set up with isooctane assigned a
rating of 100 and normal heptane given a rating of 0.

pn:ssim enginrs, ~,specinllyfor airplanec, later made it necessary to extend the octnnt. numtwr scale l~eyonclLOO.) While
the octane numher scale is not a ~ e r f e c means
t
for ratine
t
s~.ule.
gnsolinca qualily, it remains thr singlt: I ~ r s rating
P e t r c h m wfinrrs stmetimes sneak in terms oi-research"
octane number (RON) and sometimes of "motor" octane
number (MON). RON values are ohtained by testing fuel in
a single cylinder engine with variable compression ratio at 6M)
rpm, with inlet air a t 52C and a modest spark advance. MON
values are obtained a t 900 rpm, with inlet air a t 149'C and a
larger spark advance. Before 1973 RON values were the ones
usually quoted to the public, but since 1973 the octane values
posted on station pumps have been RON-MON averages. The
average value better relates to the actual nerformance of the
gasoline in an automobile engine. Concurrently with the introduction of this new average scale. refiners also lowered the
octane quality of their gasolines by about two units. As a result
some motorists began noticing knocking noises in their engines, even though they thought they were using the same
gasoline they had always used.
-

Before 1973
RON
(Advertised)

(MON)

100
94

(94)
(88)

- - -

Premium
Regular

-~

(RON-MON)
average

Since 1973
RON-MON Average
(Posted on pumps)
- - - - --

(97)
~

(91)

95
89

~p

Diesel fuel does not have the same requirements as gasoline,

more spontaneous ignition being desired in a diesel engine.
Diesel oil consists of C l s C z s molecules with minimal
branching, since straight chain hydrocarbons are preferred
for diesel use. A cetane scale is used to rate diesel fuels, with
cetane values of 100 and 0 having been arbitrarily assigned to
cetane (n-hexadecane) and a-&hylnaphthal&e.

CH:ICH~CH~CH~CH~CH~CH~CH~CH~CH~CH~CH~CH~C
cetane
(cetane no. = 100)

0-methylnaphthalene
(cetane no. = 0)
Just as with the octane scale for gasoline, the cetane numher
of a fuel is determined bv comparing- its performance
in a
.
single cylinder variable compression engine with mixtures of
these reference fuels. The hiaher the octane number of a fuel,
the lower its cetane number will tend to be. A fuel with an
octane number of 80 would have a cetane number of about
20.
~

Addition of Lead Compounds

normal heptane (octane no. 0)

iso-octane (octane no. 100)

If a gasoline had the same knocking characteristics as a 50150
volume percent mixture of heptane and isooctane, it was said
to have an "octane number" of 50. If it gave the same performance as a 25/75 mixture of heptane and isooctane, it was
rated as "75 octane". (The development of very high com466 / Journal of Chemical Education

In the 1920's ~etroleumrefiners became interested in using

additives to increase the octane rating of gasoline. Thomas
Midgley had found that the addition of heavy metal compounds tn gasoline would decrease its tendency to knock. After
much research he and his coworkers concluded that tetraethyl
lead, Ph(C2Hs),, was an ideal additive. I t was a covalent
compound, soluble in gasoline, and it gave a considerable increase in octane number. At first the lead compound was
added a t the gas station, but because of its toxicity it was later
added a t the refinery, along with a dye to indicate that the
gasoline contained lead. The addition of lead, as both tetraethvl and tetramethvl derivatives, was so successful in
raisingoctane number that its use increased each year. By the
1950's most easolines were "leaded", containing about 2.4 E
of lead per gallon. For a typical gasoline the c a d additive
boosted the octane numher by 7 to 9 units.
In order to remove spent lead from the engine, a mixture

of 1,2-dichloroethane and 1,2-dihromoethane must also be

added to leaded gasoline. These ornanic compounds supplv
halogens that convert the lead metal to volatile lead halides,
which then become part of the auto exhaust gas. The "ethyl
f l u i d added to gasoline (about 3 ml per gallon) contains about
60% of the lead compound, roughly 40% of the mixed organic
halides, and a little solvent, dye, and stabilizer. In 1967 the
production of tetraethyl lead in the US. was 685 million
vounds. Virtuallv all of it went into easoline. and the lead
.

serious concern in recent years.

Before 1970 there was very little unleaded gasoline on the
market, hut by 1974 all gas stations were offering it. In fact,
no-lead fuel had become a necessity for most new cars because
to lower the amounts
of their catalvtic converters (desiened
.
of carbon monoxide and unburned hydrocarbons in auto exhaust pas. so as to meet the clean air standards set bv the
~ n v i r & n e n t a lProtection Agency). Since lead poisons the
catalyst in these converters, and since most new cars have
them and cannot use leaded fuel, the demand for no-lead
gasoline is rapidly increasing. Current federal regulations call
for a phasing out of all leaded gasoline during the 1980's.
Lead additives are the least expensive means for raising
gasoline octane number. Their removal will necessitate an
increase in certain refinery processes, such as catalytic reformine and alkvlation. which also increase octane number
but a t &eater cost. his need for more refinery processing will
result in increases both in the orice of aasoline andin the energy required to produce it. For the past several years another
additive, methylcyclopentadienyl manganese tricarhonyl
(MMT), has been used as an antiknock agent in unleaded
gasoline, hut its use has now been ruled out because it is a
potential health hazard. Recently methyl t-hutyl ether

(i.e., cycluhexanes are more abundant than cyclopentanes,which

are in turn much more abundant than other ring systems).
5) The amount of aromatic hydrocarbons varies widely, depending
on the source of the crude oil. Sometimes aromatic content is
insignificant, but certain crude oils contain substantial quantities of alkylbenzenes.
In one research project 234 different hydrocarbons were found
to he present in-a single sample of crude oil. It is this complex
mixture that is fed into pipelines to he separated and improved by the methods of refinery processing.
The major processes used in a modern refinerv are discussed
below.
Crude Oil Distillation

After the crude oil is washed, it is then vaporized and sent

through fractionating t m t n , where the oil is srpnratrd mtc,
irncrims of h v d n e s r l n ~ n!I~irh similar Inding imint stid niolecular size. There are usuallv about five maioi fractions., their
-amounts and exact composition depending on the particular
crude oil being used. With the exception of the dissolved gases
(methane, ethane, and propane) pure compounds are seldom
separated hv distillinn crude oil. T h e followine distribution
ofproducts is rather tipical. There is considerable variation
Volume
Percent

Boiling
Point ("C)

Carbon Atoms
(approx.range)

1-2%

<30

C,-C4

15-30s

30-200

C,-C,r

5-20%

200-300

CI2-Cq5

kerosene
heater oil

10-40%

300-400

CIS-C~~

Undistilied

>400

gas oil
diesel oil
lubricating oil
residual oil
paraftin wax

>C2$

asohalt [tar)

k
has shown promise as an octane number enhancer, and it is
already being used by several companies with government
appnwal.
Modern Refining Processes

During the past 40 years a number of petroleum refininn

processes have been developed to increaie the quantity and
quality of gasoline, and also to produce the basic petrochemicals (methane, ethene...nrooene.
. butenes. benzene. toluene.~.
and the xylen&). ~etrochemicalscurrently amount to less
than 5% of refinerv outvut: however, thev are a hiehlv imthat remains the refinery's primary reason'for being. impetus
for development of several basic refining processes was the
demand for high octane fuel for airplanes during World War
I1 and then for the higher compression engines of post-war
automohiles.
As obtained from the well petroleum is a dark, viscous liquid
usuallv containine dissolved inorganic salts and nanhthenic

.~

acids.
3) Among the methyl branched compounds, 2-methyl alkanes
4)

Products
natural gas, methane
ethane, propane, butane
liquefied petroleum gas (LPG)
naphtha
straight-run gasoline

TH'

historic livine matter.)

Common Names far

predominate.
Cyelrdkanes present are those predicted by thermodynamics

in the composition of crude oils from different sources. Middle

East petroleum, for example, is usually very rich in lower
boiling hydrocarbons, while Mexican crude oil tends to be high
in heavy oils'and residuals. The residual oil is normally vacuum distilled to produce more gas oil and a heavy oil (Cm-C,,)
suitable for lubricating oil after the straight chain paraffin wax
has been removed. The undistillable bottom material is a
heavy tar suitable for paving and coating uses.
Catalvtic Cracking
Unlike the distillation process, which is a simple physical
separation, most petroleum refining processes involve
chemical reactions. In the cracking process the reaction involves splitting larger molecules into smaller ones by breaking
carhon to carhon covalent bonds.
lawe mdecules

valalYsL

SOOC

alkanes + alkenes

(kernsene range)
(gasnline range)
The thermal crackine vrocess of the 1920's was lareelv
" - replaced by catalytic p&esses during the 30's and 40's. Today
more than a third of all crude oil is ultimately subjected to
cracking. The catalyst most used today is silica-alumina (Si02,
AI20,), often containing nickel or tungsten and used in the
presence of a hydrogen atmosphere. a he silica-alumina promotes scission of carbon-carbon bonds, preferentially those
near the middle of the chain, since they are weakest. The
process is also called "hydrocracking" because it occurs in a
hydrogen atmosphere, and it is sometimes called "fluid
cracking" when a fluidized catalyst bed is used (the finely
divided solid catalvst being.. k e. ~ in
t a fluid-like state bv the
upward moving stieam of gas). Catalytic cracking occirs a t
a lower temperature (500C) than thermal cracking, and it
Volume 56. Number 7,July 1979 / 467

produces fewer small molecules and much less coke. The addition of Ni or W plus Hz has two advantages: (1) alkenes,
which are gum-formers, are hydrogenated to alkanes, and (2)
sulfur and nitrogen, which are potential air pollutants, are
removed as H2S and NHs.
Although thermal cracking is no longer important for
making gasoline, a type of severe thermal cracking called
"steam cracking" is the major process for producing the alkene
petrochemicals-ethene, propene, and the hutenes. The use
of steam in this high temperature (about 800C) process reduces the partial pressureof the hydrocarhons in the system,
which favors a greater yield of gaseous products, the volatile
alkenes, s n d also reduces coke formation

gaseous hydrocarhons to gaso!ine. Alkylation has been used

in petroleum refineries since the late 1930's. Today its role is
growing as lead additives are being phased out of gasoline,
since alkylation is an effective means for increasing octane
numher. In the context of petroleum refining, alkylation
means the combination of an alkene (such as propene, a hutene, or a pentene) with isobutane (2-methylpropane).

Catalytic Reforming
T h e catalytic reforming process can convert a 6-9 carbon
naphtha fraction of modest octane numher (about 60) to
material of very high octane (10&110). This dramatic increase
in octane numher results from the conversion of alkanes and
cycloalkanes to aromatic compounds (benzene and alkylbenzenes) all of which have octane numhers ereater than 100.
The product, called reformate, often contaiis more than 60%
aromatics. In the following example

and

~~~~

cat.

CH3CHzCH2CH2CH2CH2CH3
swoc
CGHSCH~
n-heptane
toluene
(octane no. = 103)
(octane no. = 0)
normal heotane is converted to toluene. resultine in a oheuomenal increase of 103 octane units. he major Ltalys't for
catalytic reforming is platinum on silica-alumina. One popular
trade-marked process is called Platforming. The operation
is also called "hydroforming", since it is carried out in an atmosphere of hydrogen. Many of the newer catalyst systems
are bimetallic. containing
- in addition to platinum a metal such
as rhenium, which promotes aromatization of cyclohexanes
to henzene. Typically a catalytic reformer operates around
500'C and 20 atm. With appropriate regeneration the platinum catalyst can he used for a decade or longer. This process
was first commercialized durine World War I1 to make high
octane fuel fur airplanes. It also provided toluene for making
trinitrotoluene ('I'N'I'Jex~losives.S i t r e 1952 ref8,rmute has
become the major source df henzene, toluene, and the xylenes
(BTX) for the chemical industry, although this,represents a
3mall use as compared with gasoline. (The original commercial
source for these aromatics was coal tar, which can supply only
about 10%of the current demand.
Besides producing high octane gasoline and BTX petrochemicals, catalytic reforming also produces large amounts
of by-product hydrogen. The rapid growth of the ammonia
fertilizer business during the 1950's was the direct result of
this process. Needing to find a use for all their by-product
hydrogen, refiners started building plants to combine it with
nitrogen from the air to make ammonia by the Haber process.

H,C=CH-CH,

CH,-

'i H

CH,

CH

Thus propene with isohutane produces a mixture of hranched

heptanes. The heptane one might a t first expect, 2,2-dimethylpentane, is not produced, since the reaction involves
carhonium ions that give rearranged molecules. Alkylation
is usually catalyzed by HF or HzS04 and yields an alkane
mixture in the 90 octane range.

N2

Polymerization
Another way to produce gasoline from smaller molecules
is to polymerize an alkene such as propene. Perhaps oligomerize is a more accurate term. since the ~ r o d u c t are
s dimers.
trimers, and tetramers rather than longchain polymers. l he
formation of the propene trimer is shown here

acid eat.

CH:,-TH-CH,-

FH

CH CH
= -CH3

T h e catalyst used is an acid such as HzSO1 or H3PO4. The

polymerization of propene actually yields a mixture of
hranched alkenes of the molecular formulas CsH12. C9H18.and
C12H24. These compounds have good octane numhers, but
because thev are alkenes thev form eum uoon standinr. and
so they must he hydrogenatei in order to give stable gasoline.
For about ten vears, startina in the late 1940's.. nronene
tet. .
ratner was used in liirgt: w.ume t o alkylare hen~enefor makmg
I
'l'htse AHS orudnlkvlben~enesuliw~dte~ A B Sdrwrrenti.
ucts dominated the synthetic detergent market until'their
resistance to biodegradation started causine environmental
problems. It was the hranched structure of the propene tetramer that was causing the trouble. Today's heavy duty synthetic detergents are still mainly of the ABS type, hut now
they are based on linear alkylhenzene sulfonates, which are
much more biodegradable.

+ 3Hz %
2NH3
IW'C

Many petroleum companies went into large-scale ammonia

nanufacture, hoping to convince farmers that they should
3oolv ammonia directlv to their fields as fertilizer. Needless
.;say, they were highiy successful. Soon the mounting denand for ammonia fertilizers, alone with expanded refinery
rses for hydrogen (e.g., hydrocracking and-hydrotreatiugj,
:rested a need for hydrogen far in excess of what the catalytic
.eformers could supply. Today much of that needed hydrogen
s obtained by steam reforming of natural gas or naphtha.

lsomerization
The isomerization process converts straight chain hydrocarbons to hranched mixtures. Although isomerization is a
highly important reaction in refining processes (such as catalytic cracking and reforming), as a separate process isomerization is of minor importance in a modern oil refinery.
Probably its main use today is for converting n-butane to
isohutane, which is reacted with an alkene in the alkylation
process.

4lkylation
T h e alkylation process, although not as important as catllytic cracking or reforming, is a useful process for converting

The catalyst often used is a complex of platinum on alumina

168 / Journal of Chemical Education

plus aluminum chloride, which promotes isomerization a t

temperatures ;as low 3s IOllC. Mixtures of pentancs iuld
hexnnt!s can also he isomeriznl to increase rheir uctnne rating
from 66-70 to the high 90's
Hydrogen. Treating

Since 1960 the fastest growing refining process has been

catalytic hydrogenation. Just as cracking done in a hydrogen
atmosphere gives less tar formation, hydrogenated feed materials can generally he used to avoid undesirable side reactions. Treatment with hydrogen can remove double bonds and
eet rid of nitroeen and sulfur. Since these two elements are
poisons for certain catalysts, hydrogen treatment results in
loneer catalvst life. Nitroaen and sulfur compounds are undesirable in-fuels hecausethey produce oxides that are irritating air pollutants. The sulfur compounds, which are usually
mercaptans, also have disagreeable odors which can give
gasoline an unpleasant smell. Removal of double honds avoids
the problems of gum and varnish formation.

Current Petroleum Use

For the past several decades oil and gas have accounted for
almost 3/4 of the U S . energy supply. Energy sources in the
U.S. for 1970 and 1978 were:
Oil
Gas

Coal
Hydroelectric
Nuclear

A marked change is taking place in the amount of imported

oil we use. Imports increased from 23% of our total oil used in
1970 to about 45% in 1977. As the following production figures
indicate, petroleum production in the U S . reached its peak
around 1970.

The major sources of our imported oil in 1978 were: Saudi

Arabia (13%), Nigeria (11%), Venezuela (a%), Libya (a%),
Alaeria (8%).Iran (7%).and Indonesia (6%),the remaining 39%
cttin~ngFnm \,ariousoth( r w w t r i e ~ .I .t i ~ r l p a that
r
~wtn~leum
will cmtinur (,xert influence on [ ' . S forci~npt~licv.
The Future of Petroleum
In the near future, during the two decades remaining in this
century, oil and gas will continue to provide the major portion
of U.S. total energy. Distribution of the world's available oil
will he a key prohlem, however, and the U S . will remain
heavily dependent on imported oil. For the longer term,
looking well into the 21st century, the role of petroleum as a
major energy source will gradually decline. Several studies
have predicted that maximum world-wide oil production will
occur some time between 1990 and 2010. After that it will start

to diminish, just as it already has in the U S . Thus we must

establish an active energy policy during the next decade to
ensure a smooth transition as oil and gas are replaced by other
energy sources. Energy conservation measures, although important, can only give us a little more time. We need to develop
new energy sources.
In the 21st century our limited supplies of oil and gas will
become more treasured as sources for organic chemicals,
especially for making fibers, plastics, and synthetic rubber.
T h e role of coal will he greatly expanded. Not only will coal
substitute directlv for oil and eas as fuel. hut coal will also he
converted to gas and oil. The onv version will probably be accom~lishedhv some modification of the Fischer-Tro~sch
catalytically combines these small molecules to give hydrocarbons. In the Bergius process finely powdered coal is hydrogenated to liquid hydrocarbons by breaking , u p the
multi-ring systems present in coal. Both approaches still need
considerable research and develbpment; and the plant investment will he enormous, so this synthetic oil and gas will
be quite expensive. But it will he needed. There will probahly
he some oil extracted from tar sands and shale, hut this oil will
also he much more costly than the oil we merely pump out of
wells. The conversion of plant and animal wastes to hydrocarbons will probably also contribute to our supplies of synthetic gas and oil. In a longer time frame, living green plants
may become a source for hydrocarbon oils, to be made into
new natural rubbers and other organic materials. Even though
other energy sources will be supplying most of the world's
energy needs in the 21st century, oil and gas (both natural and
synthetic) will remain the primary sources for organic chemicals and synthetic organic materials.
That uiscous, tarry liquid nature laid beneath the ground
A hundred million yeor.s before man came upon the s w n e
Can be transformed to maruelous new products irr h o w fi,undLike nylon, orlon, polyesters, polyethylene,
S.vnthrtie rubber, plastics. films, adhesiues, drugs, o n d d y e s ,
And other things, some that we now can only dream about.
Who knows what wondrous products man might someday synthesire
From oil! Except, alas, that our supplies ore running out.
The time is near when earth's prodigious flow o f oil may stop,
(Wp'ue taken so much from theground, with no way to return
it);
Meanwhile we strive to tind and drnw out every precious drop,
. . .And then, incredibly, we take the bulk of it and burn it.

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Volume 56. Number 7,July 1979 1 469