RESEARCH IN FUEL OIL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 21068, 30 December 1931, Page 10

RESEARCH IN FUEL OIL.

AN AUCKLANDER'S RETURN. FORMER RHODES SCHOLAR. PETROL FOR MOTOR-CARS. After an absence of 20 years, a former Auckland University College I"! bodes Scholar, Mr. A. G. Marshall, is revisiting New Zealand on furlough in order to see his parents, the Rev. "and Mrs. G. T. Marshall, of Kenneth Avenue, Morningside. Mr. Marshall, who is accompanied by Mrs. Marshall and their two children, is a research chemist in Ihe service of the Shell oil interests. For the. past four years lie has been engaged in technical advisory work in California, although he is still attached to the London staff of the organisation. He arrived at, Wellington by the Monowai on December 14 from San Francisco. At Auckland University College Mr. Marshall specialised in mathematics. Leaving New Zealand in 1911, bo was entered at Balliol College, Oxford, anil took honours in chemistry three years later. On I lie outbreak of war lie enlisted in tho ranks of the Royal Engineers and served until after the armistice, first in France and then at Gallipoli, and in Egypt and Mesopotamia, being demobilised with the rank of captain. Problem of " Knocking." On returning to civil life he engaged in tutoring and research work at Oxford lie then accepted an appointment with the Shell Oil Company as research chemist, working in co-operation with Mr. 11. R. Ricardo, F.R.S., one of tho world's leading designers of internal combustion engines. Their principal in-, vestigation concerned "knocking" or sudden detonation of petrol mixtures in engines. Mr. Ricardo attacked tho engineering side of the problem and Mr. Marshall the chemical side, laying tho foundation of research which has led to widespread improvement in the design of engines and the performance of standard grades of petrol. On being transferred to California, Mr. Marshall was attached to the refinery at Maitinez, near San Francisco, and he has since had to do mainly with technical problems in the commercial utilisation of oil products. Speaking of his work yesterday, he said that the oil industry tho world over, and especially in Englishspeaking countries, was striving constantly to improve the qualities of the lighter oil fuels. An enormous amount of experimentation was being carried on in the various refining processes. Higher Standards.

The motor vehicle industry was demanding ever higher standards of engine performance. This involved higher com-pression-ratios, with consequent greater liability to "knocking," and ihe oil refiners were trying to improve still further the non-detonating qualities of their produets. Such efforts were in the right direction, but it was doubtful whether the state of the motorcar market to-day really called for the higher standards that were being set up. In spite of the, depression, the oil industry was still developing, said Mr. Marshall. Over-production had caused a good deal of trouble in the United Slates, especially on new fields in Eastern Texas and in Oklahoma, but methods of control wore now operating almost everywhere. So far as he had been able to tell, most of the petrol sold in New Zealand was of what would be classed as a, high "premium" grade in' the United Statos and was well above the American average. It was free from the pronounced odour of certain grades which were in common use there and which gave really good results in all other respects when used in an average car. Mr. Marshall will leave by the Aorangt on January 12, on his way back to California.