Edward J. Rosinski
Born Aug 12 1921 - Died May 4 2000

Catalytic Cracking of Hydrocarbons with a Crystalline Zeolite Catalyst Composite
Patent Number(s) 3,140,249

Inducted 1979


Charles J. Plank and Edward J. Rosinski invented the first zeolite catalyst commercially useful in the petroleum industry for catalytic cracking of petroleum into lighter products such as gasoline.

Invention Impact

Rosinski and Plank's invention is still used in the petrochemical industry because catalytic cracking combined with polymerization and alkylation increase the hydrocarbon in crude oil's gasoline range from ten to forty percent to around seventy percent.  In the chain process catalyst cracking converts high molecular weight hydrocarbons into smaller, more volatile compounds, and polymerization converts the small gaseous compounds into liquid gasoline hydrocarbons.  Alkylation transforms the gasoline hydrocarbons into larger hydrocarbons with a higher octane number.

These technologies have advanced so much that oil refineries can shift productions to target almost any fuel type with specific performance criteria from a single crude sample.

Inventor Bio

Born to immigrant Polish parents on a farm in Gloucester County, New Jersey, Edward J. Rosinski was exposed early in life to crisis problems on the farm, and this is believed to have had a significant influence on his inventive career.

Another influence was his interest in chemistry at Paulsboro High School. While still in high school he decided to become a chemical engineer, and after graduation in 1939 he was employed by the Vacuum Oil Company in the laboratory as a petroleum inspector.

In 1940 Rosinski enrolled at Drexel Institute of Technology Evening College, but his education was interrupted by a 1942-43 enlistment in the U.S. Army Air Force as an aviation cadet. After discharge from the Army, he became an electronics test engineer at RCA and later at Atlas Instrument Company. During this period he studied at Drexel, Temple University, the University of Pennsylvania, and the Radio Electronics Institute.

In 1947 he returned to Socony-Vacuum as a lab technician, resumed his education, and in 1956 received a B.S. in Chemical Engineering at Drexel. In 1972 he was promoted to senior research associate, the company's second-highest scientific post.

Rosinski was inventor or coinventor of 76 U.S. patents, many in the field of zeolite catalytic technology leading to new and improved applications in hydrocarbon conversions. The paper he coauthored with Plank was selected as one of the 12 most important papers published in Industrial and Engineering Chemistry magazine during its 64-year history.