THE CENTURY OF PETROL - Petroleum.cz

A new Institute of Fuel and Mineral Oil
Chemical Technology was opened at the
Technical University in Brno, headed by
Professor Rudolf Vondráãek.
Stanislav Landa also ranked among the
most important Czech scientists in the fuels
area and later became Professor at
the Prague Technical University. In 1933,
he established BaÈa company’s Research
Centre at Zlín (where world-famous Otto
Wichterle also worked in a later period).
After World War II he became Chief
Technical Officer of âeskoslovenská továrna
na motorová paliva (Czechoslovak
Engine Fuels Works) at ZáluÏí near Most.
In his research work, Professor Landa
focused on the synthesis of hydrocarbons
and on explaining the properties and
structure of paraffins. He discovered a
new hydrocarbon, tricyclodecane, which
was given the name adamantane, in the
petroleum from the oil wells near Hodonín
in Moravia.
The molecule model and structure of adamantane
appeared on a Czechoslovak
postage stamp issued in 1966 on the
occasion of a centennial jubilee of the
27
Plaque with relief of Professor Ferdinand Schulz
Chemical Society of the Czechoslovak
Academy of Sciences.
Adamantane chemistry was among the
science fields studied in depth at the Technological
University in Prague after World
War II. In 1952, Stanislav Landa established
a Crude Oil and Petrochemistry Department
at the University of Chemical
Technology (V·CHT), from which many
outstanding professionals went into both
the technological practice and research
sectors. Landa’s followers, particularly Jifií
Mosteck˘ and Otto Weisser, continued in
his scientific and educational work.
In 1923, the Mine Owners Society established
the Institute for Economical Utilisation
of Fuels in Prague. In 1927 an Institute
for Scientific Research of Coal was
established in Prague. Associate Professor
Hans Tropsch, a German born in Planá u
Mariánsk˘ch Lázní (in western Bohemia),
was an outstanding representative and
the first Director of the latter institute. He
co-operated with Franz Fischer of Mühlheim
to develop the technology of preparing
liquid hydrocarbons from CO and
H2. Later he emigrated to the USA, and
Bfietislav ·imek replaced him as Director
of the Institute for Scientific Research of
Coal in Prague.
As did companies in other countries,
Czechoslovak companies, particularly
Spolek pro chemickou a hutní v˘robu
(Chemical and Metallurgical Production
Association) in Ústí nad Labem, Vacuum
Oil Company in Kolín, and the Explosia
Works at Semtín, carried out research
into the preparation of the production of
liquid fuels from coal.
Professor Stanislav Landa
The BaÈa shoe company also built a small
refinery within its chemical production plant
at Otrokovice. It was put in operation in
1934 and continued working for only a
short period during the year, to avoid losing
its production licence under the regulations
then in force. Otherwise, BaÈa bought liquid
Adamantane molecule