Page 33 - FINAL Phillips 66 50 Year Book

“Control over all kinds of pollution, including noise, is an increasing
and continuing problem largely because of the rapidity of industrial
development. We are aware that noise has been a very difficult problem
at our refinery, so Conoco has engaged the services of the Institute of
Sound and Vibration Research to help to track down continuing noise
and advise on solutions.

“Built high in the air are some structures called ‘drilling rigs’ – these,
however, are not drilling rigs as used in the North Sea or the Libyan
desert to drill for gas or crude oil. They are used to remove the coke
from the drums in which it is made. It may seem odd to be making
solid coke from liquid petroleum, but it has special qualities and uses.
Petroleum coke is a fuel which burns at the very high temperatures
required in the smelting and manufacture of aluminium and other
special steel alloys which are becoming increasingly essential to our
higher standards of living. Some of us remember black-lead and cast-
iron ranges and ordinary table knives which had to be polished regularly
to keep rust at bay. Today central heating and stainless-steel fittings are
now commonplace and I, for one, would hate to be without them.

“Our new refinery at Killingholme will help to develop the aluminium
business within the United Kingdom and we will do it with the minimum
of disruption to the natural amenities. For instance, tall chimneys are
not necessarily ugly, and they do carry flue gases high into the air, well
away from our homes.”

George Peters became general manager of the refinery when he joined
Conoco in 1967. He’d spent all his working life in the oil industry. Born
and educated in Edinburgh, he graduated from Edinburgh University
with a first-class honours degree. He joined British Petroleum in 1935

Left: Inspection of the rotary cooler on the Calciner.