Eugene Houdry
Encyclopedia
Eugene Houdry was a French mechanical engineer (graduated from École Nationale Supérieure des Arts et Métiers in 1911) who invented catalytic cracking of petroleum feed stocks. He originally focused on using lignite
(brown coal) as a feedstock, but switched to using heavy liquid tar
s after moving to the United States in 1930. Although others had experimented with catalysts for this purpose, they were stymied by the fact that the catalyst ceased to work after a time. Houdry diagnosed the nature of the problem and developed a method to regenerate the catalyst. The first Houdry unit was built at Sun Oil's Marcus Hook, PA oil refinery
in 1937. Many more units were built by the 1940s and were instrumental for US wartime aviation gasoline production. Among others at the company who helped Houdry in the development of the catalytic cracking process was Alex Golden Oblad
.
The process was further developed by two MIT engineers, Warren K. Lewis
and Edwin R. Gilliland
, under contract to Standard Oil of New Jersey, now ExxonMobil
. They developed the process into fluid catalytic cracking
, which solved the problem of having to shut down the process to burn the coke off the catalyst by using a continuously circulating fluidized catalyst made of a fine zeolite
powder. This process is still in widespread use, especially in the US where gasoline is in high demand compared to other refined products.
Houdry later became interested in automotive catalysts, and the catalytic converter
was one of approximately 100 patent
s that he received. but nothing came of it until the 1970s because the tetraethyl lead that was still in use in the 1950s and 1960s poisoned the catalyst.
Houdry had served as a lieutenant in a tank company in the French Army during World War One. He was awarded the Howard N. Potts Medal in 1948 and the French Legion of Honour.
Born near Paris, France, on April 18, 1892, Eugene Jules Houdry was the son of a wealthy steel manufacturer. He studied mechanical engineering at the Ecole des Arts et M¸tiers in Chalons-sur-Marne, a Paris suburb. He graduated in 1911, earning the French government's gold medal for the highest scholastic achievement in his class. He was captain of his school's soccer team, which won the championship of France that same year.
Houdry joined his father's business, but left for military training right before the outbreak of World War I. He served in the French army as a lieutenant in the tank corps and in 1917 was seriously wounded in the battle of Juvincourt, winning the Croix de Guerre
for his actions and later becoming a Chevalier of the Legion of Honor.
After the war, Houdry rejoined his father at Houdry et Fils, but by 1922 was making his way in the field of catalytic processes for the conversion of coal and lignite to gasoline. His interest in high-octane gasoline was fueled by his avid interest in automobile engines and in road racing, where he competed in a Bugatti racing car.
In addition to the process for high-octane gasoline, Houdry also invented a catalytic process for the production of butadiene from the butane gas derived from crude oil production. Butadiene became an important resource during World War II. It was one of the two components used in the synthetic.
Houdry was outspoken in his opposition to wartime collaboration with the Germans by the French Vichy government of Marshall Henri P¸tain. On May 3, 1941, the Vichy government declared that Houdry had lost his French citizenship. He then became president of the U.S. chapter of “France Forever” :an organization dedicated to the support of General Charles de Gaulle, the nominal head of the French government in exile and in January 1942, he became a United States citizen. His two sons, Jacques and Pierre, served in the United States Army during World War II, and Houdry directed his efforts toward industrial processes crucial to the war effort.
After World War II, Houdry formed the Oxy-Catalyst Company and turned his attention to reducing the health risks associated with the increasing amounts of automobile and industrial air pollution. His generic catalytic converter, which greatly reduced the amount of carbon monoxide and unburned hydrocarbons in automobile exhausts, was granted U.S. Patent 2,742,437 in 1956. Today, catalytic converters made by various companies are standard devices on all American cars.
Houdry's colorful life was full of great ambitions. His unusually productive career was characterized by unique foresight, bold imagination, creative leadership, persistence and, above all, action. Houdry's contributions to catalytic technology were recognized by numerous awards, including the Potts Medal of the Franklin Institute in 1948, the Perkin Medal of the Society of Chemical Industry (American Section) in 1948, the E. V. Murphree Award in Industrial and Engineering Chemistry of the American Chemical Society in 1962, and posthumous election to the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 1990. He was awarded honorary Doctor of Science degrees by Pennsylvania Military College in 1940 and by Grove City College in 1943. In 1967, the Catalysis Society of North America established the Houdry Award in Applied Catalysis.
Houdry died on July 18, 1962, at the age of 70, survived by his sons and his wife, Genevieve Quilleret. At that time he was actively working on creative ideas for using catalytic processes to improve human health.
Lignite
Lignite, often referred to as brown coal, or Rosebud coal by Northern Pacific Railroad,is a soft brown fuel with characteristics that put it somewhere between coal and peat...
(brown coal) as a feedstock, but switched to using heavy liquid tar
Tar
Tar is modified pitch produced primarily from the wood and roots of pine by destructive distillation under pyrolysis. Production and trade in tar was a major contributor in the economies of Northern Europe and Colonial America. Its main use was in preserving wooden vessels against rot. The largest...
s after moving to the United States in 1930. Although others had experimented with catalysts for this purpose, they were stymied by the fact that the catalyst ceased to work after a time. Houdry diagnosed the nature of the problem and developed a method to regenerate the catalyst. The first Houdry unit was built at Sun Oil's Marcus Hook, PA oil refinery
Oil refinery
An oil refinery or petroleum refinery is an industrial process plant where crude oil is processed and refined into more useful petroleum products, such as gasoline, diesel fuel, asphalt base, heating oil, kerosene, and liquefied petroleum gas...
in 1937. Many more units were built by the 1940s and were instrumental for US wartime aviation gasoline production. Among others at the company who helped Houdry in the development of the catalytic cracking process was Alex Golden Oblad
Alex Golden Oblad
Alex Golden Oblad was a prominent chemist and chemical engineer principally recognized for his pioneering work in catalysis and catalytic chemistry....
.
The process was further developed by two MIT engineers, Warren K. Lewis
Warren K. Lewis
Warren Kendall Lewis was an MIT professor who has been called the father of modern chemical engineering. He co-authored an early major textbook on the subject which essentially introduced the concept of unit operations...
and Edwin R. Gilliland
Edwin R. Gilliland
Edwin Richard Gilliland was an American chemical engineer and Institute Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.Gilliland was born on July 10, 1909 in El Reno, Oklahoma and moved with his family to Little Rock, Arkansas in 1918. He graduated from the University of Illinois at...
, under contract to Standard Oil of New Jersey, now ExxonMobil
ExxonMobil
Exxon Mobil Corporation or ExxonMobil, is an American multinational oil and gas corporation. It is a direct descendant of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil company, and was formed on November 30, 1999, by the merger of Exxon and Mobil. Its headquarters are in Irving, Texas...
. They developed the process into fluid catalytic cracking
Fluid catalytic cracking
Fluid catalytic cracking is the most important conversion process used in petroleum refineries. It is widely used to convert the high-boiling, high-molecular weight hydrocarbon fractions of petroleum crude oils to more valuable gasoline, olefinic gases, and other products...
, which solved the problem of having to shut down the process to burn the coke off the catalyst by using a continuously circulating fluidized catalyst made of a fine zeolite
Zeolite
Zeolites are microporous, aluminosilicate minerals commonly used as commercial adsorbents. The term zeolite was originally coined in 1756 by Swedish mineralogist Axel Fredrik Cronstedt, who observed that upon rapidly heating the material stilbite, it produced large amounts of steam from water that...
powder. This process is still in widespread use, especially in the US where gasoline is in high demand compared to other refined products.
Houdry later became interested in automotive catalysts, and the catalytic converter
Catalytic converter
A catalytic converter is a device used to convert toxic exhaust emissions from an internal combustion engine into non-toxic substances. Inside a catalytic converter, a catalyst stimulates a chemical reaction in which noxious byproducts of combustion are converted to less toxic substances by dint...
was one of approximately 100 patent
Patent
A patent is a form of intellectual property. It consists of a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for the public disclosure of an invention....
s that he received. but nothing came of it until the 1970s because the tetraethyl lead that was still in use in the 1950s and 1960s poisoned the catalyst.
Houdry had served as a lieutenant in a tank company in the French Army during World War One. He was awarded the Howard N. Potts Medal in 1948 and the French Legion of Honour.
Born near Paris, France, on April 18, 1892, Eugene Jules Houdry was the son of a wealthy steel manufacturer. He studied mechanical engineering at the Ecole des Arts et M¸tiers in Chalons-sur-Marne, a Paris suburb. He graduated in 1911, earning the French government's gold medal for the highest scholastic achievement in his class. He was captain of his school's soccer team, which won the championship of France that same year.
Houdry joined his father's business, but left for military training right before the outbreak of World War I. He served in the French army as a lieutenant in the tank corps and in 1917 was seriously wounded in the battle of Juvincourt, winning the Croix de Guerre
Croix de guerre
The Croix de guerre is a military decoration of France. It was first created in 1915 and consists of a square-cross medal on two crossed swords, hanging from a ribbon with various degree pins. The decoration was awarded during World War I, again in World War II, and in other conflicts...
for his actions and later becoming a Chevalier of the Legion of Honor.
After the war, Houdry rejoined his father at Houdry et Fils, but by 1922 was making his way in the field of catalytic processes for the conversion of coal and lignite to gasoline. His interest in high-octane gasoline was fueled by his avid interest in automobile engines and in road racing, where he competed in a Bugatti racing car.
In addition to the process for high-octane gasoline, Houdry also invented a catalytic process for the production of butadiene from the butane gas derived from crude oil production. Butadiene became an important resource during World War II. It was one of the two components used in the synthetic.
Houdry was outspoken in his opposition to wartime collaboration with the Germans by the French Vichy government of Marshall Henri P¸tain. On May 3, 1941, the Vichy government declared that Houdry had lost his French citizenship. He then became president of the U.S. chapter of “France Forever” :an organization dedicated to the support of General Charles de Gaulle, the nominal head of the French government in exile and in January 1942, he became a United States citizen. His two sons, Jacques and Pierre, served in the United States Army during World War II, and Houdry directed his efforts toward industrial processes crucial to the war effort.
After World War II, Houdry formed the Oxy-Catalyst Company and turned his attention to reducing the health risks associated with the increasing amounts of automobile and industrial air pollution. His generic catalytic converter, which greatly reduced the amount of carbon monoxide and unburned hydrocarbons in automobile exhausts, was granted U.S. Patent 2,742,437 in 1956. Today, catalytic converters made by various companies are standard devices on all American cars.
Houdry's colorful life was full of great ambitions. His unusually productive career was characterized by unique foresight, bold imagination, creative leadership, persistence and, above all, action. Houdry's contributions to catalytic technology were recognized by numerous awards, including the Potts Medal of the Franklin Institute in 1948, the Perkin Medal of the Society of Chemical Industry (American Section) in 1948, the E. V. Murphree Award in Industrial and Engineering Chemistry of the American Chemical Society in 1962, and posthumous election to the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 1990. He was awarded honorary Doctor of Science degrees by Pennsylvania Military College in 1940 and by Grove City College in 1943. In 1967, the Catalysis Society of North America established the Houdry Award in Applied Catalysis.
Houdry died on July 18, 1962, at the age of 70, survived by his sons and his wife, Genevieve Quilleret. At that time he was actively working on creative ideas for using catalytic processes to improve human health.