Catalytic Reforming - History

History

In the 1940s, Vladimir Haensel, a research chemist working for Universal Oil Products (UOP), developed a catalytic reforming process using a catalyst containing platinum. Haensel's process was subsequently commercialized by UOP in 1949 for producing a high octane gasoline from low octane naphthas and the UOP process become known as the Platforming process. The first Platforming unit was built in 1949 at the refinery of the Old Dutch Refining Company in Muskegon, Michigan.

In the years since then, many other versions of the process have been developed by some of the major oil companies and other organizations. Today, the large majority of gasoline produced worldwide is derived from the catalytic reforming process.

To name a few of the other catalytic reforming versions that were developed, all of which utilized a platinum and/or a rhenium catalyst:

• Rheniforming: Developed by Chevron Oil Company.
• Powerforming: Developed by Esso Oil Company, now known as ExxonMobil.
• Magnaforming: Developed by Engelhard and Atlantic Richfield Oil Company.
• Ultraforming: Developed by Standard Oil of Indiana, now a part of the British Petroleum Company.
• Houdriforming: Developed by the Houdry Process Corporation.
• CCR Platforming: A Platforming version, designed for continuous catalyst regeneration, developed by UOP.
• Octanizing: A catalytic reforming version developed by Axens, a subsidiary of Institut francais du petrole (IFP), designed for continuous catalyst regeneration.