Thermal cracking of petroleum (Shukhov and Gavrilov patent)
Craqueo térmico del petróleo (patente de Shújov y Gavrílov)
- Date
- 1891 · confidence high
- Place
- Moscow, Russia
- Credited to
- Vladimir Shukhov and Sergey Gavrilov
- Field
- Matter & energy
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
A patent for a process that heats heavy oil under pressure in tubes to break its molecules and obtain more gasoline and kerosene. It is the first patented description of continuous thermal cracking.
Priority is disputed: Burton's plant (Standard Oil, 1912-1913) was the first at large commercial scale, and Shukhov's procedure was not applied in Russia. The Russian patent dates from 1891.
What it led to
- higher yields of light fuels from crude
- the Burton process (1913) and Houdry's catalytic cracking (1936)
- modern refineries and the automobile age