Stratford Engineering

The Alkylation Impact: How Our Technology Moves the American Dream

By: Diane Graham

There is science behind our everyday lives. From the cars we drive to the smartphones we use, there are processes we never see that make these things possible. At Stratford Engineering, we are in the business of powering the modern world to make these processes possible. From our engineering services to equipment design, we specialize in the building blocks of the products that run your life. So, where does our work fit in when it comes to moving everyday life forward?

It can be boiled down to one example: transportation. Transportation is linked to every industry in the world. It’s how you get from your house to your job, how food travels across America and how products go from the producer to the consumer. The cars and trucks used to transport the things we need require alkylation processes, because those processes make gasoline possible. Alkylation is a major component in gasoline blending, and it is used at an oil refinery to create hundreds of grades of gasoline from the gas you put in your car to jet fuel for planes.

While there are many essential components that make an oil refinery run properly and safely, our Contactor is the heart of the alkylation process in the refinery. It’s where the reaction takes place.

This science is not only essential to our everyday lives, it is essential to our country’s economy. When American oil manufacturing does well, it means more jobs and more growth, because we don’t have to rely on foreign sources of oil. Instead, our industry faces an uphill battle, with extreme regulations and pushback that are destroying American jobs and businesses as refineries are being shut down instead of supported. Meanwhile, the everyday person is feeling the impact with the rise of gas prices, because we’re having to import from other countries.

Alkylation is an essential process that moves us forward, and we can do it right here in our country. Why shouldn’t we support that? Let’s be proud of our engineers, technical specialists, operators and craftspeople and the work they do to benefit our industry and grow the American economy.