The Shukhov cracking process is a
thermal cracking process invented by
Vladimir Shukhov
Vladimir Grigoryevich Shukhov (; – 2 February 1939) was a Russian and Soviet engineer-polymath, scientist and architect renowned for his pioneering works on new methods of analysis for structural engineering that led to breakthroughs in indu ...
and Sergei Gavrilov.
Origins
Shukhov designed and built the first thermal
cracking device for the
petrochemical industry
file:Jampilen Petrochemical Co. 02.jpg, 300px, Jampilen Petrochemical co., Asaluyeh, Iran
The petrochemical industry is concerned with the production and trade of petrochemicals. A major part is constituted by the plastics industry, plastics (poly ...
. His patent (Shukhov cracking process – patent of
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...
No. 12926 from November 27, 1891) on cracking was used to invalidate
Standard Oil
Standard Oil Company was a Trust (business), corporate trust in the petroleum industry that existed from 1882 to 1911. The origins of the trust lay in the operations of the Standard Oil of Ohio, Standard Oil Company (Ohio), which had been founde ...
's patents (
Burton process – Patent of United States No. 1,049,667 on January 7, 1913) on
oil refineries
An oil refinery or petroleum refinery is an industrial process plant where petroleum (crude oil) is transformed and refined into products such as gasoline (petrol), diesel fuel, asphalt base, fuel oils, heating oil, kerosene, liquefied pet ...
.
Present
In 1937 the Shukhov cracking process was superseded by
catalytic cracking. It is still in use today to produce
diesel.
See also
*
Cracking (chemistry)
In petrochemistry, petroleum geology and organic chemistry, cracking is the process whereby complex organic molecules such as kerogens or long-chain hydrocarbons are broken down into simpler molecules such as light hydrocarbons, by the breaking ...
*
Timeline of historic inventions
*
Burton process
References
Information on cracking in oil refining* "Vladimir G. Suchov 1853-1939. Die Kunst der sparsamen Konstruktion.",
und andere, 192 S., Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, Stuttgart, 1990, .
Chemical processes
Oil refining
Vladimir Shukhov
History of the petroleum industry
Russian inventions
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