Melvin De Groote

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Melvin De Groote (February 27, 1895 – February 3, 1963)^[1][2][3] was an American chemist and prolific inventor. He was listed on 925 U.S utility patents, making him the all-time seventeenth most prolific inventor and tenth among US inventors as of December 19, 2017. Time magazine's millennium issue recognized him as second to Thomas Edison in this regard.^[4] The article omitted non-US citizens.

De Groote invented and patented many of the de-

that separate crude oil from salt, sulfur, and water. Without de-emulsification, most of the oil pumped in the US for the last century would have been too corrosive for pipelines or tankers and would have been discarded.

]

Of

, an engineering society.

De Groote, in his work in flavorings at the Mellon Institute, was rumored to have been hired by Coca-Cola to re-formulate its syrups to eliminate the alcoholic ingredients that were outlawed during prohibition (the company does not acknowledge any changes to its recipes).^{[citation needed]}

De Groote died on February 3, 1963, in St. Louis, Missouri, at the age of 67.^[2][3]

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