Eger Vaughan Murphree

Background

Eger Vaughan Murphree was born on November 3, 1898, in Bayonne, New Jersey. When he was eight, his family moved to Louisville, Kentucky, where he attended Louisville Mayo High School before entering Kentucky University. His early interests combined science, mathematics, and athletics; he captained the university football team in 1920 and was recognized as an All-Southern tackle.

After completing his university studies, Murphree taught physics and mathematics and coached football at Paris High School in Paris, Illinois. This period connected his mathematical and scientific training with practical instruction before he entered the developing field of chemical engineering research.

Education

Murphree studied chemistry and mathematics at Kentucky University, now the University of Kentucky, receiving undergraduate degrees in 1920 and a master's degree in chemistry in 1921. The university, founded in Lexington in the nineteenth century as a land-grant institution, had developed a strong emphasis on practical education in agriculture, science, and engineering.

From 1922 to 1924 he served as a staff assistant and research associate in the Chemical Engineering Department of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. MIT was then a leading center for the emerging scientific discipline of chemical engineering, particularly through the work of William H. Walker and Warren K. Lewis on applying quantitative science to industrial processes. Murphree's work there included studies of agitation, dissolution, distillation, rectification, turbulence, heat transfer, and fluid friction; his analysis of vapor-liquid behavior later became the basis of the widely used Murphree plate-efficiency concept.

Career

Murphree began his professional career in education, teaching physics and mathematics and coaching football at Paris High School in Illinois. In 1922 he moved to MIT as a staff assistant and research associate in chemical engineering. He joined the Solvay Process Company in 1924 as a chemical engineer and became director of its chemical engineering division in 1926. Solvay's industrial operations placed chemical-engineering research within the large-scale manufacture and recovery of industrial chemicals.

In 1930 Murphree joined Standard Oil of New Jersey. He became director of Jasco Inc. in the company's development and research department from 1930 to 1934 and was vice president and director of Hydro Engineering and Chemical Company from 1934 to 1945. At Standard Oil Development Company, the research arm of Standard Oil, he managed development and research from 1934, became vice president in 1937, executive vice president in 1946, and president in 1947. The organization was renamed Esso Research and Engineering Company in 1955, and Murphree remained its president until his death in 1962.

Under his leadership, the company's research organization developed and commercialized processes for synthetic toluene, petroleum-derived butadiene, butyl rubber, catalytic hydrogenation, fluid hydroforming, fluid coking, and fluid catalytic cracking. The fluid catalytic cracking process, developed with Donald L. Campbell, Homer Z. Martin, and Charles W. Tyson, used circulating fluidized catalyst to convert heavier petroleum fractions into lighter products, including high-octane gasoline. The first commercial unit began operating in 1942, when aviation fuel and synthetic-rubber materials were strategically important to the United States and its allies.

During the Second World War Murphree served with the Office of Scientific Research and Development and on the S-1 Executive Committee that helped organize the Manhattan Project. He chaired a planning board responsible for technical and engineering aspects of uranium procurement and production, directed work connected with a heavy-water plant in British Columbia, and supervised important work on centrifugal uranium-isotope separation. From 1950 he served on the General Advisory Committee of the Atomic Energy Commission and later advised defense and military bodies on atomic-energy policy and guided missiles.

Murphree was special assistant to the secretary of defense for guided missiles from 1956 to 1957. He also became president of the Permanent Council of the World Petroleum Congress from 1951 to 1959 and president of the Fifth World Petroleum Congress from 1956 to 1960. His career combined industrial research leadership with the organization of large technical programs in petroleum processing, national defense, and atomic energy.

Achievements

• Co-invented the fluid catalytic cracking process with Donald L. Campbell, Homer Z. Martin, and Charles W. Tyson; the process enabled continuous conversion of heavy petroleum fractions into high-octane gasoline and became a major twentieth-century petroleum-refining technology.

• Led the development and industrial application of petroleum processes for synthetic toluene, butadiene, butyl rubber, hydrocarbon synthesis, fluid hydroforming, and fluid coking.

• Developed the engineering concept known as Murphree plate efficiency, which became widely used in calculations for distillation columns.

• Participated in the organization of the Manhattan Project and directed or supervised major technical work involving uranium procurement, heavy water, and isotope separation.

• Was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1950.

• Was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 1999 for his contribution to fluid catalytic cracking.

• The American Chemical Society's E. V. Murphree Award in Industrial and Engineering Chemistry was named in his honor.

Works

• book chapter

  • Fluid catalytic cracking process

    (Chapter in the American Chemical Society's Advances in Ch...)

    1951

• conference paper

  • High-capacity operations on fluid cracking units

    (Co-authored report on operating large fluid catalytic-cra...)

    1945

• journal article

  • Fluid catalyst cracking for premium fuels

    (Co-authored with colleagues from Standard Oil Development...)

    1943

  • Catalytic cracking by the fluid catalyst process

    (Described the fluid-catalyst approach to catalytic cracki...)

    1943

  • The fluid-solids technique—applications in the petroleum industry

    (Co-authored discussion of fluidized-solids technology and...)

    1947

  • Effect of agitation on the rate of solution of crystals

    (Early chemical-engineering study published in the Journal...)

    1923

  • Butyl rubber. A new hydrocarbon product

    (Co-authored account of the development of butyl rubber as...)

    1940

  • Relations between heat transfer and fluid friction

    (Analyzed relationships between transport phenomena releva...)

    1932

  • The production of butadiene by the dehydrogenation of normal butylenes

    (Co-authored study of petroleum-based butadiene production...)

    1946

  • Improved fluid process for catalytic cracking

    (Co-authored technical account of improvements to the flui...)

    1945

  • War developments in the petroleum industry

    (Surveyed petroleum-industry developments associated with ...)

    1943

  • Rectifying column calculations with particular reference to N component mixtures

    (Study of calculations for multicomponent distillation and...)

    1925

  • Graphical rectifying column calculations

    (Presented a graphical approach to distillation-column cal...)

    1925

  • Hydrogenation of petroleum

    (Co-authored study of petroleum hydrogenation.)

    1940
  • Relation between vapor pressure and vapor composition in binary mixtures of volatile liquids

    (Co-authored with W. K. Lewis and published in the Journal...)

    1924

  • Production of aviation fuels by high pressure hydrogenation

    (Co-authored with E. J. Gohr and C. L. Brown; described pe...)

    1939

• patent

  • Method of and apparatus for contacting solids and gases

    (United States Patent 2,451,804, co-invented with Donald L...)

    1948

Views

Murphree's professional outlook emphasized translating laboratory science into reliable industrial practice. His work reflected a preference for quantitative analysis combined with practical judgment, especially when deciding whether experimental results were sufficiently mature for large-scale implementation during wartime.

Membership

Murphree belonged to major professional and scientific organizations, including the American Chemical Society, American Institute of Chemical Engineers, American Petroleum Institute, American Physical Society, American Institute of Physics, Society of Chemical Industry, Institute of Petroleum, and American Nuclear Society, of which he was a charter member. He was also associated with the American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers, Industrial Research Institute, Directors of Industrial Research, the Academy of Political Sciences, and the New York Academy of Sciences.

His public scientific service included participation in the Office of Scientific Research and Development, the Manhattan Project, the Atomic Energy Commission's advisory bodies, the World Petroleum Congress, and committees concerned with atomic energy and industrial research.

• American Chemical Society , United States

• American Institute of Chemical Engineers , United States

• Charter member.

  American Nuclear Society , United States

• American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers , United States

• American Institute of Physics , United States

• American Petroleum Institute , United States

• American Physical Society , United States

• Armed Forces Chemical Association , United States

• Directors of Industrial Research , United States

• Industrial Research Institute , United States

• Institute of Petroleum , United Kingdom

• Society of Chemical Industry , United Kingdom

• Academy of Political Sciences , United States

• Fellow from 1955.

  New York Academy of Sciences , United States

• Chairman from 1951 to 1959.

  Permanent Council of the World Petroleum Congress , International

  1949 - 1962

Personality

Edwin R. Gilliland described Murphree as combining technical ability, mathematical mastery, scientific imagination, and a strong sense of practical relevance. Gilliland also characterized his engineering judgment as balanced between analytical completeness and the limits of computation.

Quotes from others about the person

• Kenneth Nichols described Murphree as stable, conservative, thorough, and precise. Edwin R. Gilliland wrote that Murphree was a pioneer in bringing chemical-engineering science into industry and an intellectual and administrative leader in transforming petroleum processing from a mechanical into a chemical industry.

Interests

• Mathematics, chemical engineering, petroleum technology, atomic energy, and industrial research

• Sport & Clubs

  Football

Connections

Murphree married Madelaine Johnson in 1930; she died in 1933. He married Georgie in 1934. His professional connections included collaborators Donald L. Campbell, Homer Z. Martin, and Charles W. Tyson, with whom he was associated in the development of fluid catalytic cracking.

Wife:

Madelaine Johnson

Married Murphree in 1930; she died in 1933.

Wife:

Georgie

Married Murphree in 1934.

Collegue :

Donald L. Campbell

Co-inventor of the fluid catalytic cracking process.

Collegue :

Homer Z. Martin

Co-inventor of the fluid catalytic cracking process.

Collegue :

Charles W. Tyson

Co-inventor of the fluid catalytic cracking process.

References

• Eger Vaughan Murphree, A Biographical Memoir National Academy of Sciences memoir describing Murphree's education, industrial career, wartime service, honors, memberships, publications, and patents.
  1969
• Eger Vaughan Murphree Papers Library of Congress finding aid documenting Murphree's education, employment, marriages, leadership of Standard Oil Development and Esso Research and Engineering, Manhattan Project service, Atomic Energy Commission work, and World Petroleum Congress activities.
• Eger V. Murphree and Fluid Catalytic Cracking National Inventors Hall of Fame profile documenting Murphree's induction, co-invention of fluid catalytic cracking, and leadership of Exxon Research and Engineering.
  1999
• Past recipients: Perkin Medal Society of Chemical Industry record identifying Murphree as the 1950 Perkin Medal recipient.