Global Challenges: Conservation of Fossil Fuels

It’s not usually a career of which a young boy dreams in his childhood, but for George Unzelman, life associated with the refining industry has been filled with adventure, fortune – and yes, even notoriety.

“My first ‘brush’ with a refinery and hydrocarbon fuels was early in 1943 as a Merchant Marine cadet,” Unzelman reminisced. “We loaded an entire Liberty ship, the SS George M. Bibb, with 55-gal (208-L) drums of aviation gasoline from the refinery in Richmond, California. Our destination was Guadalcanal – newly taken by our forces in World War II. It was an exciting voyage, and the memory of the importance of that shipload of gasoline is with me today.”

Later, as a deck officer, Unzelman served on a troop transport and an ammunition carrier in the Pacific theater. His career at sea ended as chief officer, discharging ammo at Bremerton, Washington, December 1945. Between ships, July 1, 1944, Unzelman was fortunate to marry his wife of now nearly 64 years, an attractive U.S. Navy nurse, Mary Ellen.

In 1946, with Mary Ellen’s encouragement, he returned to the University of Washington in Seattle to finish a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering that he began in 1937.

“I finally had my degree in 1948, and I had two good job offers – DuPont, at their DuPont, Washington ammunition works; and Continental Oil Co. (now Conoco), at their (then) headquarters in Ponca City, Oklahoma. I chose the latter.”

A year in Ponca City brought a transfer to Billings, Montana, as part of the permanent staff to start up Conoco’s new refinery. By today’s standards, the refinery was quite small, but the design included one of the early fluid catalytic cracking units with a unique desulfurizing arm to clean the gas oil feed, Unzelman said.

“The crude mix contained a substantial percent of sour Wyoming Elk Basin crude. Early in the 1950s, the Yellowstone pipeline connected our finished product outlet to eastern Washington. Pipeline operations called for Conoco to handle tenders in our tank farm for two other refiners, Farmers Union Central Exchange and Husky Oil Co.

“I look back on the years with Conoco as a great training ground to understand all the aspects of taking crude to the finished product state. Later, I was able to apply the background to the big picture – U.S. and international refining.”

 

	George Unzelman and his wife Mary Ellen on their wedding day, July 1, 1944.

Unzelman joined Ethyl Corp.’s Research Center in Ferndale, Michigan, in 1955. Founded in 1923, Ethyl was formed by General Motors and Standard Oil of New Jersey (ESSO) and held the use-patent for tetraethyl lead, a fuel anti-knock additive. For years, Ethyl was the sole supplier of lead anti-knocks, but with competition looming, Ethyl felt the need to understand more about its oil company customers’ operations, specifically refining. The company formed a ‘Refinery Technology’ group to provide additional services that would complement safety engineers’ handling of lead anti-knocks and Ethyl’s gasoline testing laboratories.

“The manufacture and sale of lead anti-knocks represented high volume products that were profitable,” Unzelman said. “Service was important, and programs for fuel additive customers became quite sophisticated, frequently involving major studies that accessed outside consultants. These programs were especially valuable for small- and medium-sized refiners and continued until the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency lead phase-down from gasoline impacted business.”

Unzelman’s near 30-year career with Ethyl Corp. took him through a series of assignments from project engineer to technical director of Petroleum Chemicals Division. Michigan was home twice; the Unzelmans also hung their hats in Oklahoma, New York, California and Louisiana throughout the years.

“I grew up and lived in the same house all my life,” Mary Ellen said. “I think I left the Seattle area once before World War II. Some people might not like moving around so much, but I loved it. George’s career has allowed us to live all over the U.S., and we have traveled the world together.”

The last 13 years of Unzelman’s career with Ethyl were spent in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

“Ethyl Corp. policy encouraged active membership in the American Petroleum Institute (API), National Petrochemcial and Refiners Association (NPRA), Society of Automotive Engineers and others,” Unzelman said. “This afforded an opportunity to serve on committees and present appropriate papers. It was good business to maximize customer contacts at the level of association membership. I took full advantage of the opportunity to meet top oil industry management, and to promote Ethyl’s interests by chairing sessions and presenting papers.

“One executive stands out for several reasons. That is Fred Hartley, president of Union Oil Co. of California – partly because we both lived in Palos Verdes Estates in the 1960s, but also because he was a true visionary along with being a very successful oil man.

“When I presented papers at NPRA, it was not unusual to see Fred in the audience, and he would invariably ask me a challenging question. He was a strong proponent of the future of the oil sands and oil shale, even at that time,” Unzelman said. “He always felt the day would come when those vast hydrocarbon deposits would be utilized. And it has happened with the sands. But the shale, which is estimated to hold more than a trillion bbl, will have to await the right technology and economic conditions to bring it to the market.”

During his years with Ethyl, Unzelman often became the go-to man for special assignments. After an explosion at a Standard Oil Co. (Indiana) refinery in Whiting, Ethyl put Unzelman in charge of a project to produce several 25-minute safety films as a service to its good customer,
Standard Oil. Unzelman worked with a professional script-writer, arranged for and followed filming at four U.S. refineries, then went through the editing and cutting process with the film producer, Audio Productions Inc.

“Our narrator was Frank Blair, a well-known TV commentator at that time,” Unzelman said. “The films were an image-builder for the Whiting, Indiana, refinery and were used by the entire industry.”

By the 1970s, it was apparent lead anti-knocks were in trouble environmentally. The Unzelmans purchased land in Fallbrook, California, and started a 16-acre commercial avocado grove. In 1974, Unzelman obtained his qualifications as a professional engineer with the intent of consulting should the need arise. On May 10, 1978, API honored Unzelman with its Certificate of Appreciation for 18 years of outstanding contributions.

By 1980, the handwriting was on the wall – lead anti-knocks would be phased out of gasoline. Unzelman did the necessary job of cutting staff and finding positions for his group. He took his own retirement from Ethyl in June 1984.

But was this truly retirement? Not at all.

“I contacted Fred Potter, who had started a publication called Alcohol Outlook. My hallmark API paper given in Los Angeles in 1971, Are There Substitutes for Lead Anti-knocks?, along with other publications on fuels, positioned me ideally for consulting,” Unzelman said. “Small- and medium-sized refiners worldwide, as well as oil industry suppliers, were searching for answers to lead-free gasoline composition.”

Unzelman formed his own consulting company in 1985, HyOx Inc. (short for hydrocarbons and oxygenates). His wife acted as HyOx vice president, handling the finances, publication of papers as well as reports, and accompanying Unzelman around the world on his consulting trips.

“I took a limited number of challenging assignments, frequently international, that left time to handle the avocado venture,” Unzelman said. “One example was my work with the World Bank and the Institute of Mexican Petroleum (IMP) in the 1980s that went on for several years. The bank, funded by Japanese money, was involved in financing air clean up in the Mexico City Valley. Fuels and refinery operations in the Valley were critical factors. The relationship with IMP culminated on August 25, 1995 when I was invited to keynote IMP’s 30th anniversary conference in Mexico City.

“My association with Fred Potter and his company, Information Resources Inc., continued during my entire consulting career. It encompassed consulting, advising, writing and conference organization. Fred is a close friend as well as a former business associate. His success in the early 1980s with Alcohol Outlook lead me to encourage him to branch out to hydrocarbons. The result was the newsletter, Octane Week. I served on the editorial board of this publication, and it carried my articles for years.”

When President George H.W. Bush signed the Clean Air Act Amendments into law in 1990, Unzelman thought the time was right for a new publication with
Potter as publisher – this time a magazine. The result was Fuel Reformulation, Vol. No.1, Sept./Oct. 1991. The magazine had some challenges, and Unzelman served as temporary editor for a couple of months. The publication later became World Refining.

Before retiring, Unzelman served NPRA as vice chairman of the Manufacturing Committee and chairman of the Program Committee. Unzelman also was a continuing member of the Screening Committee for the NPRA Annual Q&A Session on Refining and Petrochemical Technology.

“He was a much sought-after expert on gasoline additive technology,” said Herb Bruch, technical director of NPRA from 1973 to 1992 (now retired). “He was always the go-to man.”

Bruch, still one of Unzelman’s closest friends, also joined Potter as an advisor and contributed to Potter’s conference work. Terry Higgins followed Bruch as NPRA technical director.

“Both Herb and Terry were invaluable to my career as an oil consultant,” Unzelman said.

“George Unzelman authored more papers for NPRA annual meetings than anyone else in the history of the industry,” said Potter, now executive vice president of Hart Energy Publishing. “George was just an enormous contributor on every topic, from lead (additives) to each and every possible replacement. He understood their technical values – and the merits, costs and demerits to adding them to gasoline worldwide.

“George Unzelman is ‘Mr. Octane’ – and his contribution, which has been enormous and international, will last for all time.”

In 1999 at age 80, with more than 50 years connected to the oil industry, Unzelman claimed he finally retired from active oil consulting – although he still keeps pace with industry news and developments. The avocado acre-age was sold, and the couple moved once again – this time to Lincoln, California. They spend their time on more sedate enterprises, such as adding to their nearly 500-piece collection of antique Belleek, a fine porcelain originating from Northern Ireland, or tending to the 27 different fruit trees – “everything from Asian pears, apples and every kind of citrus you can imagine” – in their small backyard.

“As I look back, I was fortunate to become associated with oil,” Unzelman said. “While Ethyl was primarily a chemical company, my role was with their customers – the oil refineries. Hydrocarbons, whether from crude oil, natural gas or coal, will be with us for the foreseeable future. The current global challenges are upon us – conservation of the remaining fossil fuel resources, and environmental control for their impact. Those are the challenges.

“Would I change anything about my life? Would I have done anything differently? Hell, no.” Unzelman said emphatically. “Every life has its ups and downs, the good and the bad. But I can honestly say, I have enjoyed my whole career.”