Lewis Cass Karrick was an American petroleum 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...

 engineer, oil shale

Oil shale

Oil shale, an organic-rich fine-grained sedimentary rock, contains significant amounts of kerogen from which liquid hydrocarbons called shale oil can be produced...

 and coal

Coal

Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...

 technologist, and inventor. He patented several coal and oil shale related inventions, and he also refined and perfected a low-temperature carbonization and pyrolysis

Pyrolysis

Pyrolysis is a thermochemical decomposition of organic material at elevated temperatures without the participation of oxygen. It involves the simultaneous change of chemical composition and physical phase, and is irreversible...

 process for processing coal and other carbonaceous materials, known as the Karrick process

Karrick process

The Karrick process is a low-temperature carbonization and pyrolysis process of carbonaceous materials. Although primarily meant for coal carbonization, it also could be used for processing of oil shale, lignite or any carbonaceous materials. These are heated at to in the absence of air to...

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Lewis Carrick worked as a consulting engineer for the United States synthetic fuels studies in Utah and Ohio. In 1920s, he improved the low-temperature carbonization and pyrolysis process for processing coal and other carbonaceous materials, which is known as Karrick process. He was also actively involved in the early development of the NTU oil shale retort

Nevada–Texas–Utah Retort

The Nevada–Texas–Utah Retort process was an above ground shale oil extraction technology to produce shale oil, a type of synthetic crude oil. It heated oil shale in a sealed vessel causing its decomposition into shale oil, oil shale gas and spent residue...

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In 1930–1938, he worked as a supervisor of the coal products research at the University of Utah

University of Utah

The University of Utah, also known as the U or the U of U, is a public, coeducational research university in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. The university was established in 1850 as the University of Deseret by the General Assembly of the provisional State of Deseret, making it Utah's oldest...

. In 1943, Karrick was employed by the United States Geological Survey

United States Geological Survey

The United States Geological Survey is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, and the natural hazards that threaten it. The organization has four major science disciplines, concerning biology,...

 to work on Alaska and Rockey Mountain Coal Survey. In 1950, he was transferred to the United States Bureau of Mines

United States Bureau of Mines

For most of the 20th century, the U.S. Bureau of Mines was the primary United States Government agency conducting scientific research and disseminating information on the extraction, processing, use, and conservation of mineral resources.- Summary :...

's Pittsburgh station.

Patents issued to Lewis Karrick