NOTES ON THE WAR

Waihi Daily Telegraph, Volume XXXI, Issue 8831, 9 October 1942, Page 3

NOTES ON THE WAR

PETROL CRISIS IN RUSSIA LOSS OF THE CAUCASUS AMERICAN PLANT BEING SENT Russia’s grave trial goes on without respite. Descriptions of the fighting at Stalingrad have exhausted the vocabulary of reporters and commentators. The battle has reached new heights of ferocity; but there appears to be no “ceiling” to the ferocity of modern war. Germany at least is reaping the reward of having piled up the products of munition works for many years, but whether that reward will be even local victory is still in the balance. One of Russia’s immediate problems among many is the loss of part of the oil supply from the Caucasus. The extent of this loss has not been revealed" tout it is obvious that it must already be serious, not only through the loss of Maikop (second only to Baku), but through the inevitable interference with transport from the remaining Caucasus oil country to Russia via the Volga. Russia has other oil resources, in the region .between the Volga and the Ural Mountains, and these have been under development for the past five years. (But it appears that the Caucasus fields provide the highest quality oil from which aviation petrol is obtainable in quantity. That Russia is short of high-grade aviation spirit is shown by the announcement that complete plants for the production of high-octane petrol are being shipped there from the United States, where various processes are in use on an enormous scale to improve the performance of “gas.” “High-Octane” Very few people know what “highoctane petrol” means, except that “100 octane” is something to conjure with and can’t be got for general use. Crude petroleum is made up of a great number of compounds of hydrogen and carbon in different proportions;, several are gases', others are liquids more or less volatile, and some are oils (kerosenes, lubricating oils, and fuel oils), and some are solids (paraffin wax and bitumen). The quantity of light “fractions” required for high-grade motor fuel available - naturally is far below requirements; tout by a variety of methods it is possible to manipulate the heavier oils and produce lighter ones. As the process results in part of each molecule being split off, it is called “cracking.” “Cracking” plays a most important role in the petroleum industry in the United States; something like half the motor fuel produced is made by it. A converse process of building up the molecules, of the gaseous fractions of petroleum into useful fluid is also in operation and adds to the pool of high-grade fuel. . The Grading System The more the mixture of petrol vapour and air is compressed in an engine cylinder before it is fired, the more of its energy is available as useful power. (But high compression causes “knocking,” or premature explosion, which puts a limit to the compression that can be used. The ideal fuel, therefore, is one that will not “knock.” Octane, one of - the constituents of petrol, has a low tendency to “knock,” and is used as a standard and any motor spirit which behaves similarly is rated “100octane.” 'This can be achieved by mixing fuels of low rating with certain chemicals, for instance, terrae-thyl-lead; and the same goal is reached., along different routes, by some of the “cracked”- products and converted gases.

The petroleum chemists are thus able to pi'oduce as much as they want of fuel of much better performance than natural sources can supply. They are even able to make fuels which rate above 100 octane.

The production of high-octane fuel has lagged in Europe. One hund-red-octane fuel is standard in British and American aviation, whereas German aircraft fuel averages only 87, a grade which, with a given engine, produces only about threefourths as much power. Russia has evidently not developed the cracking process to the full, or there would not be the need for imported plant. The cabled report implies that this is due to the high quality of the oils obtained from the Caucasus, now lost or in jeopardy. It should be added that if a car owner could obtain 10x)-octane spirit, he would be disappointed, for it would be no better than ordinary petrol in his engine. But by altering the engine (by increasing the compression) the higher efficiency would show itself; incidentally, the engine would no longer run satisfactorily on standard fuel.