Records of the American Chemical Society Division of Petroleum Chemistry

The Division of Petroleum Chemistry was a division of the American Chemical Society. The division’s origins date back to the 1920 ACS Spring Meeting, when a group of petroleum chemists suggested to ACS Executive Secretary Charles L. Parsons the need for a division devoted to the chemistry of petroleum separate from the Division of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry. With the backing of Parsons and the ACS’ membership, the Division of Petroleum Chemistry was established at the 1922 ACS Spring Meeting.

From its founding, the Division of Petroleum Chemistry focused on the advances in petroleum technology and the production of chemicals from petroleum. During World War II, it contributed to efforts to meet the United States’ wartime demand for petroleum products and petroleum derived chemicals. Over the course of its existence, it held a number of petroleum symposia.

In 2011, the Division of Petroleum Chemistry merged with the Division of Fuel Chemistry to form the ACS Division of Energy and Fuels.

Sources

Browne, Charles Albert and Mary Elvira Weeks, A History of the American Chemical Society, Seventy-Five Eventful Years, Washington, D.C.: American Chemical Society, 1952.

Records of the American Chemical Society Division of Petroleum Chemistry, Science History Institute Archives, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.