Houdry catalytic cracking
Craqueo catalítico de Houdry
- Date
- 1936-1937 · confidence high
- Place
- Marcus Hook, Pennsylvania, United States
- Credited to
- Eugène Houdry
- Field
- Matter & energy
What it is
A process that breaks large petroleum molecules with a clay catalyst to yield more and higher-octane gasoline than thermal cracking. Its first commercial unit ran at the Sun Oil refinery.
Houdry was French; the Socony unit at Paulsboro (New Jersey) started in 1936 and Marcus Hook in 1937.
What it led to
- high-octane aviation gasoline in the Second World War
- fluid catalytic cracking
- modern refining