C a t a l y s i so n e d e c a d e a t a t i m e

Burt Davis, University of Kentucky, Center for Applied Energy Research, 2540 Research Park Drive, Lexington, KY 40511-8410

Years of5555500000

A. Farkas,organizer of thefirst Catalyst ClubSymposium in 1949

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Eugene Houdry - Asecond career inauto exhaustcatalysis.

Houdry’scatalytic

converter.

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Late 1940s- Robert M. Milton and Donald W. Breck, Union Carbide, developEarly 1950s: commercial synthesis for zeolites - A, X, and Y types.

Late 1940s- Eugene Houdry develops monolithic platinum catalyst system forEarly 1950s: treating exhaust gases from internal combustion engines, founds —

and begins commercial operations at Yardley, Pennsylvania. Houdryis later inducted into the Inventor’s Hall of Fame.

June 11, 1949: First meeting of organization that became the Catalysis Club ofPhiladelphia was held at the University of Pennsylvania. Paperswere presented by R. C. Hansford (Mobil), A. G. Oblad (Houdry),A. V. Grosse (Temple U), T. I. Taylor (Columbia U.) andK. A. Krieger (U. Pennsylvania). A. Farkas, organizer of thissymposium, was selected chairman of a committee to form apermanent organization.

December 1949: Prof. Paul Emmett presented a lecture at Temple University andafterwards the Catalysis Club of Philadelphia was officially formed,electing A. Farkas chairman and A. Oblad as Secretary-Treasurer.Almost one hundred signed up as members.

1949: First commercial operation of UOP’s Platforming Process fornaphtha reforming, Old Dutch Refining, Muskegon, Michigan;patents for Pt-Cl-Al2O3 catalysts to Vladimir Haensel.

1949: P. W. Selwood published his first paper on nuclear induction andbegins a series of classic publications on the application of magnetictechniques in catalysis. The results are summarized in his book[P. W. Selwood, “Adsorption and Collective Paramagnetism,”Academic Press, 1962.]

March 2, 1950: The Bylaws of the Catalysis Club of Philadelphia, as written byGrace Kennedy (wife of Robert Kennedy, prominent catalysisscientist at Sun Oil), were adopted and still serve as the model forlater formed clubs/societies.

1950: MILESTONE MEETING: The Discussions of the FaradaySociety, Heterogeneous Catalysis, No. 8, 1950. Topics included:O. Beeck, Relates % d-character of metal and catalyticactivity for ethylene hydrogenation.D. D. Eley, Calculates the heat of adsorption of hydrogen on metals.G. M. Schwab, Alloy catalysts for dehydrogenation.D. D. Dowden and P. W. Reynolds, Electronic effects in catalysisby metal alloys.

1st Decade: 1949 - 19581st Decade: 1949 - 1958

P. W. Selwood and L. Lyon, Magnetic susceptibility andcatalyst structure.M. W. Tamele, Surface chemistry and catalytic activity ofsilica-alumina catalysts.John Turkevich, H. H. Hubbell and James Hillier, Electronmicroscopy and small angle X-ray scattering.

1950: Linear relationship between quinoline chemisorption and catalyticactivity for gasoil cracking -G. A. Mills, E. R. Boedeker and A. G. Oblad, JACS, 72,1554 (1950).

1950: Hydroformylation catalytic species identified as HCo(CO)4 - I.Wender, M. Orchin and H. H. Storch, JACS, 72, 4842 (1950).

1951: A. Wheeler defines role of diffusion in determining reaction ratesand catalytic selectivity - Advan. Catal., 3, 250-326 (1951).

1951: Paul Emmett utilizes 14C radioisotope in Fischer-Tropschmechanism studies - New York Times reports that “Gulf Oilscientist makes radioactive gasoline.”

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V. Haensel,Naphtha Reforming,1996 Draper Prize,

Nobel Prizeequivalent.

Diffusion ofcatalytic

reforming in thepetroleum industry.

Catalyticactivity and nitrogen

base poisoning.

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Joe Kummer (left)and Paul H. Emmett

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