1. Herman Frasch [or Hermann Frasch] was a chemist, mining engineer and inventor known for his work with petroleum and sulfur.
21 Facts About Herman Frasch
1. 2.
Herman Frasch was the son of Johannes and Frieda Henrietta Frasch.
3.
In 1875, Herman Frasch invented a recovery process for tin scrap and process to make white lead from galena.
4.
Herman Frasch patented a process for refining paraffin wax in 1876, and sold the patent to Standard Oil, for whom he became a consulting chemist based in Cleveland.
5.
In 1884, Herman Frasch sold the exclusive use of his fractional distillation patent, which was more efficient at separating oil into by-products to Imperial Oil.
6.
Imperial then hired Herman Frasch to assist them in retrofitting their Silver Star refinery with his refining process.
7.
Once Herman Frasch's completed his work on the refinery in February 1885, he resigned and joined Imperial board member John Minhinnick in founding the Empire Oil Company.
8.
The partners purchased a refinery in London, and Herman Frasch began experimenting on a way to remove the sulfur in kerosene refined from Petrolia oil.
9.
Between 1885 and 1887 Herman Frasch determined that mixing copper oxide during the distillation process removed the sulfur content from the oil.
10.
Once Herman Frasch returned to the United States, he began working for the Solar Refining Company, a Standard Oil subsidiary in Lima, Ohio, and perfected his desulfurization method.
11.
Herman Frasch became independently wealthy when he sold half his Standard stock after the price rose from $168 to $820 per share, while the dividend on the stock he retained increased from 7 to 40 percent.
12.
Herman Frasch drilled three dry holes nearby, but the sulfur was not on his property.
13.
Herman Frasch concluded the sulfur was associated with a dome structure located on an island owned by the American Sulphur Company.
14.
In 1894, Herman Frasch started drilling well No 14 using a 10-inch pipe, finally getting through the quicksand to the caprock after three months.
15.
Herman Frasch then drilled an 8-inch bore to the bottom of the sulfur deposit.
16.
Herman Frasch then eliminated the pump, by using air lift via compressed air.
17.
In 1908, Herman Frasch entered into an agreement with the Italian Government dividing the world market outside the US, where Union Sulphur Company was guaranteed one-third.
18.
Herman Frasch's costs were one-fifth that of Sicilian sulfur mined in Caltanissetta.
19.
Once his original patents expired, Herman Frasch was unsuccessful in blocking Freeport Sulphur Company from using his process.
20.
Herman Frasch married his second wife Elizabeth Blee on June 16,1890, shortly after his first wife passed away.
21.
Herman Frasch died at his home in Paris on May 1,1914, and was buried in Gaildorf.