Most commonly found in crude oil
The video “shrinks” them once more, down to molecular size so they can get a glimpse at a long hydrocarbon molecule. As the students learned in the beginning of their Energy Museum tour, hydrocarbons are most commonly found in crude oil and can form seemingly endless chains.
A girl in the front row says the molecular chain looks like a caterpillar as the video explains the chain is too large to fit through the refinery’s catalyst — depicted on the screen as a blue honeycomb pattern — and splits the molecule several times to make it fit. The sound of the snap that accompanies the split makes the students wince and gasp, until one loudly tells the video, “You don’t break atoms apart like that!”
Bruce Scott, a strategic reliability engineer with Flint Hills Resources, said watching the students interact and make connections is the most rewarding part of being one of the “Engineers in Classrooms.”
“One of the most important things is showing them all how important math and science really are,” Scott said as his group of students finished their tour of the Texas Energy Museum. “You use it in every day life, and it’s been so much fun watching them make these connections. The more knowledge and education you can get, the better off you’ll be in life.”
Erin Daly, a process control engineer with Flint Hills Resources, said her group of students responded to each of the three museums. They marveled at the sheer number of inventions in the Edison Museum and really connected with Port Arthur artist Harvey Johnson in the Art Museum of Southeast Texas, she said.
“Being the engineer that I am, I like the Texas Energy Museum the best because it takes it all back to the base level,” Daly said. “It explains the entire process from start to finish — from where the crude oil comes from to what products it makes. At Flint Hills and at other refineries, we only deal with a very small portion of the process. It’s nice to really step back and see that process from start to finish, and really look at what we do in the grand scheme of everything.”