156 



National Resources Planning Board, Industrial Research 



Such cooperative programs may involve equipment 

 manufacturers and service companies whose business 

 is closely related to developments within the petroleum 

 industry. The joining of efforts in joint projects may 

 be stimulated by various causes; it is resorted to par- 

 ticularly in those cases where otherwise complications 

 of a legal nature are apt to seriously delay an important 

 technical development with consequent loss to the 

 industry as a whole. 



Research programs of broad interest to the industry — 

 or to an important group within the industry — particu- 

 larly when they are on problems of a fundamental char- 

 acter, are frequently also handled on a cooperative 

 basis. Illustrations of this are the project on the com- 

 position and structure of petroleum carried out at the 

 National Bureau of Standards under the sponsorship of 

 the American Petroleum Institute; the Hydrocarbon 

 Research Project, sponsored jointly by 25 oil companies 

 and the General Motors Research Laboratories, at 

 Ohio State University; and the studies on composition 

 and processing of Pennsylvania crude oil, being con- 

 ducted at Pennsylvania State College for the Pennsyl- 

 vania Grade Crude Oil Association. 



Relation to the Universities 



The increased employment of technical personnel by 

 the petroleum industry has clearly had an effect on our 

 teaching institutions. This is particularly noticeable 

 in the case of the chemical engineering education in 

 some schools, where the curricula place a great deal of 

 emphasis on the unit operations employed in petroleum 

 refining. The growing trend toward instruction in 

 petroleum technology in engineering curricula has been 

 stimulated not only by the demand forgraduates possess- 

 ing specialized training along such Hues, but also by the 

 return to the teaching profession of men trained in the 

 petroleum industry, particularly in its research and 

 development organizations. Moreover, many profes- 

 sors of chemical engineering are actively engaged as 

 consultants by the petroleum industry and thereby 

 acquire an intimate knowledge of its processes and 

 operating methods. 



As a rcsidt of the study of petroleum-refining opera- 

 tions by institutions of learning, there has been a marked 

 contribution from leading universities to the progress 

 in petroleiun along chemical engineering lines. Along 

 strictly chemical lines, however, contributions from 

 universities have perhaps not been so pronounced. In 

 fact, most of the new organic chemistiy dealing with 

 aliphatic hydrocarbons and applicable to the processing 

 of petroleum, has originated within the petrf)leum indus- 

 try itself. With some notable exceptions, our univer- 

 sities do not stress sulficiently strongly teaching and 

 research in this field. Consideriiig the technical and 

 economic importance of the petroleum industiy, it is to 

 be hoped that the potentialities of its basic raw material 



maj' receive more attention among teachers of organic 

 chemistry. Physical chemistrj'^, through its newer 

 trends, already promises to contribute to a considerable 

 degree toward the solution of the petroleum industry's 

 problems. 



A System of Free Competition 



It is to be expected that a field, in which technical 

 progress is so rapid, should leave ample room for free 

 competition. In this respect, the petroleum industry 

 has retained its pioneering aspect even at this late date. 

 In spite of the large integrated technical organizations 

 of the major oil companies — and in spite of the coop- 

 erative research efforts previously discussed — there are 

 no obstacles in the way of individual initiative. In fact, 

 many of the important developments in petroleum have 

 been — and continue to be — contributed by individuals 

 not directly employed by the industry. 



It is evident that research can defeat any attempt 

 toward monopolizing a broad field in the petroleum in- 

 dustiy, as it can find other ways and means of accom- 

 plishing the same or even better results than currently 

 obtained. The rate at which new processes are being 

 developed, with the attendant threat of rapid obsoles- 

 cence, encourages quick utilization of new developments 

 both by the inventor himself and through licensing to 

 competitors. There invariably seems to be more than 

 one solution to a given problem, as illustrated by the 

 numerous cracking processes that have been developed 

 by competing oil companies and individuals. The same 

 situation exists in the more recent accomplishments, 

 such as solvent extraction, where a large number of 

 different processes are in commercial operation, and in 

 the many poh'mcrization processes for the production 

 of premium fuels. Even catalytic cracking, which was 

 first announced only 2 j^cars ago, already has produced 

 no less than three competing processes. 



Characteristic of petroleum research also are its 

 generous contributions of subjects for inclusion in 

 programs of teclmical society conventions and meetings, 

 and of papers for publication in technical journals. 

 The publicity given, in this way, to the results obtained 

 by an individual or by a group of individuals encourages 

 efforts by others, where a more secretive policy woidd 

 tend to lessen competition. 



Perhaps the general spirit of community of interest 

 in the field of petroleum research can best be expressed 

 by a quotation from the acceptance speech recently 

 given by a petroleum executive on the occasion of an 

 award for achievement in this field of endeavor: ". . . 

 we are indebted at every stage of the development to 

 contriliutions from other organizations — often our com- 

 petitors." " 



" Award for chemical engineering acbicTcment. Acliievenicnt via group effort. 

 Howard, F. A. Acceptance. Oiemkal and Maatlnrgical Evglnttring, JS. 751 (Decem- 

 ber 1939). 



