Knapsack Chemical Park

Chemical park Knapsack, aerial view of the Knapsack plant

Chemical park Knapsack, water tower and production facilities

The Knapsack Chemical Park in Hürth-Knapsack ( North Rhine-Westphalia ) is a self-contained, access-protected industrial park for the chemical industry . The chemical park has been operated by YNCORIS GmbH & Co. KG (until 2019 InfraServ GmbH & Co. Knapsack KG), which emerged from Hoechst AG . The total area of ​​the chemical park is currently 180 ha or 1.8 km².

The reason for the choice of the location was the proximity to inexpensive energy from lignite in the immediately adjacent United Ville mining field . The plant for the production of calcium cyanamide (calcium cyanamide), a mineral fertilizer for agriculture, which was built in 1906 and started up in 1907, marked the beginning of today's chemical park . A number of other production sites with an ever-expanding range developed around it. After the Second World War , the plant began processing phosphorusand its derivatives changed over; Phosphorus chemistry was the focus of the production program at this time, it encompassed the production of elemental phosphorus, phosphoric acid and their derivatives through to products for the detergent industry as well as feed additives and pesticides. Since the breakdown of phosphorus chemistry, chlorine chemistry and plastic production ( PVC , PE , PP ) have been in the foreground together with pesticides.

history

The nucleus of today's industrial complex emerged from the establishment of a factory for the production of calcium cyanamide (calcium cyanamide), a mineral fertilizer for agriculture. The plant was built by Deutsche Carbid Aktiengesellschaft, founded on May 31, 1906 in Frankfurt am Main by the Metallurgische Gesellschaft , and the Gesellschaft für nitrogen fertilizer mbH in Westeregeln , which initially also took over the management of the plant. The founder and first chairman of the supervisory board was the director of the Metallurgical Society, Rudolf von Neufville , construction management was taken over by Johannes Maruhn , and commercial management by Max Bachmann . Although the local population - especially the farmers in the region - complained about the plant, the establishment of the business began in September / October 1906. When production began in 1908, the company's plants were one of the first in the world for the industrial production of calcium cyanamide.

Historical requirements

The prerequisite for the construction of a factory for the production of calcium cyanamide was the great demand for fertilizers at the beginning of the 20th century. The preferred fertilizer since about 1830 was saltpeter , which was mined in large quantities in Chile and exported as Chile nitrate ; until 1900 a third of it in the German Empire . At the end of the 1890s, the chemist Fritz Rothe discovered that calcium carbide absorbs nitrogen from the air at around 1,100 ° C, producing calcium cyanamide or calcium cyanamide. The patent in question was taken over by Adolph Frank and Nikodem Caro , who founded Cyanid-Gesellschaft mbH in Berlin , but could not implement the process because of the high temperatures required. This was only possible with the catalyst process developed by Ferdinand Eduard Polzeniusz in 1905 , which was first used industrially in Knapsack.

Above all, the intended use of the lignite in the immediate vicinity as an inexpensive energy source caused industry to settle in the town of Knapsack in the Rhenish lignite district . The first briquette factory of the United Ville mine between Knapsack and Hürth-Berrenrath was built as early as 1901, and started operations on January 19, 1902, and was followed by four other factories. Each of them generated not only process steam for coal drying, but also electricity for their own use; its surplus was released into the public power grid . When the calcium cyanamide factory was set up, Deutsche Carbid-AG signed a contract on October 3, 1906 with the operator of the pits, the Roddergrube union , in order to secure a permanent supply of cheap energy.

From Carbid Aktiengesellschaft to a joint stock company for nitrogen fertilizers

Calcium carbide

The calcium cyanamide plant was initially operated using three retort furnaces ; the calcium carbide required was purchased and converted into calcium cyanamide using a process developed by Ferdinand Eduard Polzeniusz in 1905 . The Polzeniusz process , later Polzeniusz-Krauss process , was a further development of the process developed by Adolph Frank and Nikodem Caro for converting calcium carbide with nitrogen, with the addition of calcium chloride as a catalyst, the necessary process heat from around 1,100 ° C to 700 could be lowered to 800 ° C.

${\displaystyle \mathrm {CaC_{2}+N_{2}\longrightarrow \ Ca(CN)_{2}} }$

German Carbide AG, 1908

Carbide tapping

Carbide furnace

In 1908 a plant for the production of calcium carbide as well as its own lignite power station was built, in the following year the Deutsche Carbid-AG changed its name to Aktiengesellschaft für nitrogendünger, Knapsack near Cologne , and took over the management of the site. Due to the hard work at the carbide furnaces and the general resentment about the settlement of the company, it suffered from a labor shortage in the early years and was dependent on immigrant workers from Bavaria, Italy, Croatia and the Netherlands. The Bavarians in particular came together to form associations, so that, among other things, a mountain costume preservation association Almenrausch was founded in Knapsack .

In 1910 Constantin Krauss , who developed the Polzeniusz-Krauss process together with Polzeniusz , took over the management of the Knapsack plant. In the following year, 1911, the plant began to produce ammonia and ammonium sulphate (also as fertilizer) from calcium cyanamide, for which there were massive sales difficulties due to patent problems with the patent holders of the Frank Caro process and competition in Western rules (until it was closed in 1910) gave; In 1908 only 65 tons of the 10,000 tons produced per year could be sold. The situation improved by 1913, and the production of calcium cyanamide was converted to a continuous process in the first self-developed sewer furnace , and in the same year the company moved into its first administration building. However, in the same year, serious competition for calcium cyanamide came on the market: The chemists Fritz Haber and Carl Bosch developed a process for the production of synthetic ammonia from atmospheric nitrogen and hydrogen for the Badische Anilin- und Sodafabrik (BASF) , a first large-scale plant for Production started in 1913 at the BASF subsidiary in Oppau .

With the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, the need for fertilizers and gunpowder , which could also be made from calcium cyanamide, grew suddenly due to a British blockade of the supply of Chile nitrates - ammonia and nitric acid were used to produce nitrates that could be used for ammunition production. The war raw materials department of the empire became the major customer for the location, with a loan of 15 million gold marks a new and modern factory for the production of carbide, calcium cyanamide and ammonia was built by expanding the old plant and adding a new plant with a power station and six new ones Furnace was newly built; The factory, which had only been of regional importance until then, was able to increase its capacity five times within a short period of time. In this new plant, 450 tons of calcium cyanamide per day or 150,000 tons per year could be produced in 14 sewer ovens. In 1915/1916 40 autoclaves produced 55,000 t of ammonia water and in 1916 the nitrogen production was switched to a new system for air liquefaction using the Linde process . Competition arose from the expansion of capacities at the BASF plant in Oppau, the new Reich nitrogen works in Piesteritz (March 1915), the Upper Silesian nitrogen works in Königshütte and the start-up of the BASF ammonia works in Merseburg ( Leuna works , April 1917). In 1916, the warfare authorities expected the war to end quickly and were no longer interested in further calcium cyanamide from Knapsack, and the plant was threatened with bankruptcy. The AG for nitrogen fertilizers ended the war with a loss of several million marks and then suffered from sales difficulties due to the isolation by the Allied occupation of the Rhineland .

Developments from 1918 to 1945

The Goldenberg power plant in the year of construction 1914

Joint stock company for nitrogen fertilizers 1920s

The inking units vorm. Meister Lucius & Brüning AG , the later Hoechst AG, took over the guarantee for the loan from the German Reich and received half of the shares in the stock corporation for nitrogen fertilizers, until 1919 they acquired the majority of the shares and thus secured the carbide supply for the production of acetylene , with which the Knapsack site became part of the Farbwerke as AG for nitrogen fertilizers .

In 1918 plants for the production of acetic acid , acetone and acetaldehyde were put into operation, whereby the air separation plant already used for nitrogen production also supplied the oxygen necessary for acetic acid production. The following year saw the first changes in the social area: In addition to the plant fire brigade , an official and workers support fund was founded. In 1920 the administration of the company was relocated to Cologne, a reaction to the increasingly worsening relationship with the employees, which was expressed in strikes and workers' unrest after the war and in February 1921 in a sympathy strike for the chemical workers in Leverkusen against the approval of the decision of the Works council and the unions escalated. After the plant was completely closed for 6 weeks, the management only hired those "who guaranteed peace and order."

On November 4, 1920, the brown coal and briquette works Roddergrube AG concluded a joint venture agreement with Rheinisch-Westfälisches Elektrizitätswerk AG , whereby the Roddergrube was incorporated into the RWE Group on January 1, 1921. In 1921, the conversion to the Söderberg electrode developed by Carl Wilhelm Söderberg together with Elektrokemisk A / S Oslo optimized carbide production, and in 1924 the conversion to three-electrode furnaces took place. The plant secured the supply of lime by purchasing the Gebrüder Wandersleben GmbH lime plant in Stromberg in the Hunsrück region . In 1922 the company began producing ferro-silicon and built its own sodium factory. The occupation of the Ruhr and increasing inflation caused problems again in 1923: The flow of raw materials and products came to a standstill, the plant was shut down for seven months and, at the endeavors of the Farbwerke, it was only kept alive with emergency money from Bayer in Leverkusen. Despite indebtedness, it did not stabilize until 1924.

On December 2, 1925, IG Farbenindustrie was founded from the largest chemical companies in Germany, and Knapsack also became a production site for what was then the largest chemical company in the world. In the same year, acetylene production was switched to a specially developed large-scale drying facility, and a pension fund was founded on October 1st of that year, which was jointly financed by the employees and the company management . In 1926 it joined the International Carbide Syndicate , a cartel for international coordination in the field of carbide production, and in the following year the International Ferrosilicon Syndicate was founded with the participation of the Knapsack plant. In 1928 a branch of Degussa AG settled in the industrial area, whereby the Knapsack site, together with the Goldenberg power plant, reached its climax as a chemical industry and energy complex .

Anniversary celebration 1936

Sports event 1936

Porter area 1937

Plant manager Constantin Krauß died on May 28, 1928 after 18 years as plant management. His successor was Max Bachmann, who had been the commercial director of the plant since the company was founded and an extraordinary member of the board since 1917 and a full member since 1922. In 1929 the first large carbide furnace went into operation and increased production capacity again, in the same year a plant for the production of activated carbon was built and the sodium factory, which started operation in 1922, was closed. Also in that year, RWE, which had operated the largest steam power plant in Europe in the direct vicinity of the Goldenberg power plant since 1914, took over the power plant facilities at the chemical site because the coal supply contracts for the plant had expired. To jointly treat wastewater, IG Farben, RWE and Degussa founded the Abwasser-Gesellschaft Knapsack GmbH, also in 1929. In the following year, Degussa began producing sodium in the vicinity of the chemical plant.

With the stock market crash on the New York Stock Exchange on October 25, 1929, the global economic crisis began , as a result of which the company's sales fell by half and therefore almost 40 percent of the workforce had to be laid off by the end of 1932. In 1931 the acetic acid production was supplemented by a plant for the production of acetic anhydride , which was used for the production of acetate silk . In the same year, a pipeline for acetaldehyde was built between the Knapsack plant and the Rhine harbor area in Wesseling , where an aldehyde tank system was also built to fill tankers . To mark the 25th anniversary of the site's operation, a quicklime plant, thanks to which the lime from dry gasification could be returned to production, and a new calcium cyanamide silo were built.

After the seizure of power of Adolf Hitler and his appointment as Chancellor in 1933, almost all managers of the plant Knapsack occurred in May of the year closed in the NSDAP one. The senior officials completely subordinated the plant to the specifications of the National Socialist ideology and adapted the operation to the ideas of the Office for Beauty of Work in the course of the following years . In the same year the second large carbide furnace was built and put into operation. In 1934, granular lime nitrogen came onto the market for the first time; it was produced in a rotary kiln process and had better properties for spreading. In 1935 the works newspaper Werks-Nachrichten , a sports department, a works library and a works music band were founded, and a separate apprentice workshop was set up in the new main workshop built in 1931. In 1936 the production of acetic anhydride and acetic acid from acetaldehyde was optimized. In 1938 two half-roofed carbide furnaces were put into operation, through which carbon monoxide could be produced and used as a by-product .

War damage 1944

In January 1939, the company was awarded the badge for exemplary professional education, and on May 1st, it was also awarded the Gaudiplom for outstanding achievements . On January 31 of that year, an Air France passenger plane crashed into one of the chimneys and crashed on the factory premises, killing five aircraft occupants. The company's economic situation improved noticeably during the Nazi era, and when the war began , in early September 1939, the AG for nitrogen fertilizers in Knapsack employed around 2000 people. The company was first hit by air raids in August and October 1940, and on August 12, 1941, a number of facilities were damaged by a low-flying attack with 24 high explosive bombs. On July 23, three people were killed in the explosion of the acetic acid plant as a result of an attack, including two young women from Ukraine who had been abducted to Knapsack for forced labor with 30 others . Despite a shortage of labor and difficulties in the power supply, the AG for Nitrogen Fertilizers was named a war model company in 1943 due to its performance . On January 1, 1944, the workforce comprised a total of 2539 people, including 510 prisoners of war. On October 28, 1944, the Knapsack plant was an alternative target, about 80 percent of which was destroyed by an air raid with around 138 explosive bombs during a major attack on Cologne.

Post-war period and development of phosphorus chemistry

Reconstruction of the aldehyde plant

Carbide tapping

At the end of the war in 1945, the plant was handed over to the American troops, and reconstruction began that same year. On July 11, 1945, Friedbert Ritter was appointed trustee and managing director of the Knapsack plant by the British military government . The production of carbide could not be resumed until 1945 with a furnace and the other plants partly only ran a few years later (1946 acetic acid and acetone, 1949 calcium carbonate, 1950 monochloroacetic acid and ferrosilicon).

In 1951 there was a comprehensive reorganization of the IG Farbenindustrie, with the stock corporations for nitrogen fertilizers together with Griesheim-Autogen in Frankfurt, the northwest German oxygen works in Düsseldorf, the Tega plant, plant for technical gases in Kassel and the southwest German oxygen works in Stuttgart-Untertürkheim were merged to form Knapsack-Griesheim Aktiengesellschaft for nitrogen fertilizers and autogenous technology . This name changed to Knapsack-Griesheim Aktiengesellschaft, Knapsack near Cologne after the release from Allied control in 1952. With the disengagement of IG Farbenindustrie in the same year, Knapsack-Griesheim AG came under the management of Farbwerke Hoechst AG again and became the new chairman of the supervisory board the CEO of Hoechst AG Karl Winnacker . In production, the production of acetic acid was discontinued this year and the acetone plant switched to the raw material isopropanol . In the Rhine port of Cologne-Godorf , the company also built six phosphate ore silo cells, which initiated the entry into phosphorus chemistry in the following year. This was achieved by starting the production of elemental phosphorus in a phosphor furnace with a maximum output of 18 MW, thermal phosphoric acid , red phosphorus and acetylene black , and a new crushing, grinding and sorting plant for carbide processing was put into operation. In 1954 the production of vinyl chloride began using the acetylene and ferrosilicon produced on site, and a test facility for the production of magnesium was put into operation, but was shut down again in the same year.

In 1956 the production of pentasodium triphosphate (NTPP), which was used as a water softener in detergents at the time, and of tetrasodium pyrophosphate began . In addition, another phosphor furnace was put into operation that year and the after-work house designed by the architect Karl Hell was inaugurated. In 1957, the production of chloroprene and acrylonitrile was added to the site's portfolio. Hugo Querengässer became a permanent representative of Georg Janning, who was probably acting as plant manager at the time, he himself became plant manager in 1961 while Janning rose to become chairman of Knapsack Griesheim AG, which had been converted into an operations management company of Farbwerke Hoechst AG since 1958. In the same year, carbide furnace 20, the world's largest carbide furnace with an annual capacity of 160,000 tons, went into operation at the site; the first closed furnace of this type started up in 1955.

Further expansion in Knapsack and Hürth

Chemical park Knapsack (pink), location and extent (2009)

In 1960 the Knapsack location was supplemented by the Hürth plant as a second large area for industrial plants. The plant section was built in a backfilled part of the Hürtherberg open-cast lignite mine , which had been bought from the union of the same name . This required extensive foundation measures. The first plant on this site to start producing chlorine by means of chlor-alkali electrolysis . The rock salt required for this was brought in on a works railway siding from the HGK line from the port of Wesseling. In 1961, acetaldehyde production was converted to the Wacker-Hoechst process , which uses ethylene from petroleum as a raw material . In 1963, the production of acetaldehyde began in the Hürth part of the plant, while in the same year another phosphor furnace increased the volume of phosphorus production and a new plant for the production of phosphorus pentasulphide was put into operation. In the following year, vinyl chloride production was converted to ethylene-based production, and at the same time the capacity of NTPP was further increased, but the production of acetone and explosion soot was discontinued and the last open carbide furnace was discontinued.

On January 1, 1965, the name was changed to Knapsack Aktiengesellschaft. In the same year, the Oxygen and Griesheim Autogen plant groups merged with Adolf Messer GmbH to form Messer Griesheim GmbH . Together with Krems-Chemie GmbH in Krems an der Donau, the company founded Krems-Knapsack Phosphorprodukte GmbH for the manufacture of phosphorus products for Austria and southern Europe. The expansion in the following years led to a number of other products and increased capacities, especially in phosphorus chemistry. In 1965, chloroprene capacity was doubled and production of the toothpaste additive dicalcium phosphate and the detergent phosphate Thermphos NW began. In 1966 a plant for the production of phosphoric acid in the wet process, a plant for the production of the feed additive Hostaphos , a polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plant and a central wastewater treatment plant were put into operation in the Hürth part of the plant , while phosphorus production rose to 80,000 tons per year and so did the capacities the chlor-alkali electrolysis was increased.

Entrance to Knapsack 1969; After work house and phosphor torches

On November 13, 1967, there was a major explosion in a phosphor furnace, killing five workers. The cause of this accident was water ingress into the furnace. In the same year a plant for the production of electrolyte - brownstone was put into operation, and Benckiser Knapsack GmbH was founded , in which Johann Anton Benckiser GmbH was involved. In this company, the entire Benckisers phosphate business, with the exception of the cleaning agents division, was merged with part of the Hoechst phosphate division. In 1968 the production of vinyl chloride based on acetylene was started, and a new plant for the production of phosphorus pentasulphide in the Hürth plant replaced the plant in Knapsack. The completion and commissioning of its own ethylene pipeline between Wesseling and Kelsterbach enabled the Höchst – Knapsack pipeline network to be connected to Frankfurt-Höchst. At the same time, the first 60 MW phosphor furnace based on the Knapsacker model was put into operation in Vlissingen in the Netherlands. A year later, a plant for the production of dichloroethane from chlorine and ethylene was started up in Hürth .

In 1970 Hellmut Gäbler took over the management of the plant, the workforce of which had meanwhile grown to around 5,000 employees. The production of acrylonitrite and hydrocyanic acid at the site was discontinued, at the same time the capacities for monochloroacetic acid and vinyl chloride were increased and a phosphorus pentasulfide plant was built in the Hürth plant. With the commissioning of a plant for the production of polyethylene (HDPE, low-pressure polyethylene), polyolefins were also produced in Knapsack for the first time in the same year . In the following year, the production of the oldest Knapsack product, calcium cyanamide, was stopped and two large carbide furnaces were shut down; the fertilizer was replaced by new fertilizers in agriculture. Vinyl acetate was also no longer produced; instead, a plant for the production of phosphorus intermediates was put into operation and PVC production was expanded to include another production line. In 1973, a plant from Hostalit H and Chlorhostalen followed , and the production of gypsum wallboards was also started in order to use the gypsum that occurs during the wet digestion of phosphate ores . With the Swedish company Boliden Aktiebolag , Farbwerke Hoechst founded Boliden-Knapsack GmbH in Knapsack in order to sell precipitated salts for phosphate precipitation from wastewater .

In 1974 the last plant for the production of vinyl chloride from acetylene was shut down, whereby the entire area of ​​acetylene chemistry was closed, while the production of ethylene was focused by the commissioning of a plant for oxychlorination . In the same year Knapsack Aktiengesellschaft was dissolved and the site was legally converted into the Knapsack plant of Hoechst AG.

Hoechst Aktiengesellschaft, Knapsack plant

Hoechst company logo tower and bridge from 1947 to 1997

With the conversion to the Knapsack plant, the previous plant manager Hellmut Gäbler became head of the Inorganic Chemicals division at Hoechst AG, while Max-Rudolf Buchmann became the new plant manager in Knapsack in 1975. In the following year, 1976, the production range in the Hürth plant section was further expanded with the start of production of the flame retardant ammonium polyphosphate and azo pigment paints (Hansa yellow). In addition, the polyethylene plant was converted to the production of polypropylene and a carbide-based desulphurization mixture was developed for molten steel. The first crop protection product was added to the portfolio in 1977 with the production of the insecticide Triazophos (Hostathion) , in 1978 the plant was expanded to include the fungicide Carbendazim (Derosal), and in 1979 the herbicide Diclofop-methyl (Illoxan) followed on a further production facility is used against wild oats. The azo-range was expanded in 1978 by the production of Hansa-red and Hansa scarlet, and with a phoban plant ( phosphabicyclononane ) began production of phosphorus specialty chemicals based on hydrogen phosphide . A new basic product was also developed in 1979 with methyl dichlorophosphine (MPC), which is obtained from methane and phosphorus trichloride .

In 1980, Pyrazophos (Afugan), another fungicide, was produced for the first time ; at the same time, PE-HD production was resumed after a one-year break. In 1981, vinyl methylacetamine (VIMA) and phosphoric acid extracted from raw phosphoric acid were produced using a process developed in Knapsack. In 1982 the site of the plant was expanded to include the former Knapsack train station. Phosphorus furnace 1 and the production of dithiophosphoric acid ester were discontinued in 1981 and the production of gypsum wallboards in 1983 for economic reasons, while in the years up to 1986 the production of hostaphos, dicalcium phosphate, illoxane, polypropylene, acetic acid, phosphorus red and manganese dioxide was in some cases greatly expanded has been. In 1985 the production of ethyl phosphonoacetate as an auxiliary material for polyester fiber production started on a small scale , and in 1986 the production of intermediate products for the crop protection agent glufosinate (Basta) was started from methanephosphonous acid chloride (MPC) via methanephosphonous acid (MPS) to methanephosphonous acid ester (1987, MPE) started. The production of the feed Hostaphos and the solvent Pyranton-A were discontinued.

On June 29, 1987, there was a major fire that destroyed the phosphoric acid extraction system, but in which no people were harmed. In June 1990, with the shutdown of the last carbide furnace (furnace 10) and all the facilities for further processing, the production of carbide was stopped after 82 years. In 1991 a bulk polypropylene plant with a capacity of 160,000 tons per year was put into operation, in the same year the Karl Schmidt GmbH from Heilbronn built a silo plant connected to the PP plant, which for the first time enables the manufacture and distribution of a product by two different ones Company took place. A modern pesticide store was set up for the flammable pesticides, and the wastewater treatment plant was given a 6,000 cubic meter wastewater retention tank.

In the following years, many production facilities were cut back and shut down. In 1995, the wet phosphoric acid plant, which had been running for 25 years, the production of the detergent additive Thermphos (NTPP), which had been running for more than 35 years, and the phoban production were discontinued, and the decommissioned carbide plants, the entire lime and coke plant and the one built in 1917 were set up Power plant demolished. In 1992, phosphorus production ceased with the closure of the last phosphorus furnace and the phosphorus sintering plant. In the same year, a recycling plant for used, single-variety polypropylene with a capacity of 5000 tons per year and two granulating lines for the production of PP compounds went into operation. After Max-Rudolf Buchmann retired in 1993 after 18 years as plant manager, Horst-Dieter Schüddemage was appointed as his successor. Vinnolit GmbH , founded as a joint venture between Wacker and Hoechst, took over the PVC operation in the Hürth plant. In December 1993 ferrosilicon production and the in-house air separation plant were discontinued. On January 1, 1994, the production facilities for pesticides went to Hoechst Schering Agrevo GmbH , which was also formed as a joint venture, 60% by Hoechst AG and 40% by Schering AG . On February 1, a restructuring of Hoechst AG, which had been discussed over several years, took place, which divided the company into various business units and thus initiated the structural change to an open chemical park. In the same year, the chlorhostalen, hostaphos and manganese dioxide plants in the Hürth plant section were dismantled and the remains of the carbide and acetylene plants and the power plant's chimney were demolished. In 1995 the dicalcium phosphate plant and the phosphor purification plant were also shut down and the plants for phobane, ferrosilicon, electrode compound and wet phosphoric acid that had already been shut down were demolished. In 1996, the phosphor furnace and the phosphate sintering plant were demolished.

In 1996, above all, the polypropylene capacities were increased and Silafluofen and Formetanat were added to AgrEvo's crop protection product portfolio.

Conversion to the Knapsack Chemical Park

Logo of the Knapsack Chemical Park

With the reorganization of Hoechst AG into a Strategic Management Holding in 1997, the Knapsack plant was converted into a chemical park, with the various operational business areas of Hoechst AG being transferred to independent companies. On July 1 of that year, polypropylene production went to Targor GmbH , a joint venture between Hoechst AG and BASF , and polyethylene production to Hostalen Polyethylene GmbH . The specialty chemicals were taken over by the Swiss company Clariant , while the chemical production was spun off by Hoechst into Celanese GmbH. InfraServ GmbH & Co. Knapsack KG (today YNCORUS) was founded as the service company of Hoechst AG as the operating company for the chemical park. InfraServ Verwaltungs-GmbH in Frankfurt am Main became the managing partner of InfraServ Knapsack as a 100% subsidiary of Hoechst AG, the limited partners in Knapsack were Targor GmbH (34%), Hoechst AG (22%), Celanese GmbH ( 20%), Clariant GmbH (21%) and Hostalen Polyethylene GmbH (3%). InfraServ received the entire property and the general factory building from Hoechst. In the course of the merger of Hoechst and Rhone-Poulenc to form Aventis in 1999, Hoechst AG transferred its shares in InfraServ to Celanese AG. InfraServ Verwaltungs-GmbH thus became a 100% subsidiary of Celanese AG, which, after its spin-off from Hoechst, also took over the industrial chemistry divisions of Hoechst AG and the shares in Targor GmbH and Vinnolit Kunststoff GmbH.

In 1998, the pentasulfide production was spun off from Celanese GmbH and transferred to Thermphos GmbH, which is the German branch of Thermphos International BV . The suspension polypropylene plant, which now belongs to Targor GmbH, was shut down in the same year, while the bulk polypropylene plant was optimized and its capacity increased. In 1999, Hostalen Polyethylene GmbH was taken over by Elenac GmbH , a joint venture between BASF and Shell . This in turn merged in 2000 with Targor GmbH and Montell GmbH (a Shell subsidiary) to form Basell Polyolefine GmbH , which is now part of LyondellBasell Industries AF SCA . The inorganic productions of Celanese (salt electrolysis, direct chlorination, oxychlorination and dichloroethane splitting) were spun off as Vintron GmbH in Knapsack in 1999 .

In 2000, Vinnolit expanded PVC production at the site with a new vinyl chloride liquefaction unit and new large boilers to 150,000 t PVC / a. In July of the same year, Vinnolit GmbH and Vintron GmbH were sold to Advent International , and in 2003 Vintron became part of Vinnolit. In 2000, Vinnolit began building a new production plant for vinyl chloride with integrated oxychlorination for a capacity of 330,000 tons of vinyl chloride per year and an expansion of the chlor-alkali electrolysis to 250,000 tons per year.

In 2001, the first plans to build a new power plant at the site, the combined cycle power plant , were presented by InterGen , and construction of the new container terminal in the Hürth section of the plant, which went into operation in January 2002, began. Further innovations were introduced, including the “Evening Academy” for in-house training, the first “in-house exhibition” in the Feierabendhaus and the conversion of the company restaurant to a new, more customer-oriented concept. At this point in time, the construction of a paper mill of " Rhein Papier GmbH ", a subsidiary of the Myllykoski Corporation , began in the neighborhood , with which there is still close cooperation today.

In 2002, Bayer AG and Bayer CropScience took over Aventis' crop protection product production, including the production facilities at the Hürth site. The acetic anhydride plant was dismantled and the building permit was granted for the combined cycle power plant. There were also technical innovations. In October 2002, a new InfraServ server center was put into operation. In April of that year, a new vinyl chloride plant was inaugurated by Vinnolit GmbH in Knapsack, which was financed with 130 million euros by Advent International.In 2004, capacities in direct chlorination and vinyl chloride production as well as in the manufacture of PVC using the suspension process were increased.

In 2003 Clariant Acetyl Building Blocks GmbH, today CABB GmbH , took over the organochlorine chemistry division as a subsidiary of Clariant. Clariant itself began building a Depal plant in which the aluminum salt of diethylphosphinic acid , a flame retardant for plastics , is to be produced. Basell shut down the last of the SPP granulating lines. This year, InfraServ founded two new subsidiaries at the site: Personal-Transfair GmbH and Rhein-Erft-Akademie, and it also submitted the approval documents for a new substitute fuel power plant . As the smallest manufacturing company, Nexans presented the world's most powerful component for superconducting current limiters to date.

In 2004, Clariant's new Depal plant was completed and production began in October; at the same time, the company announced the closure of the production facilities for azo dyes for 2005. Basell also announced that it would shut down production facilities, in their case the HDPE plant, which was also mothballed in 2005, while the APO plant was to be expanded further. Vinnolit relied on the expansion of chlorine chemistry, which was to be carried out with an investment of 30 million euros. In the same year, InfraServ invested 300,000 euros in a production hall for Nexans. As an investor in the combined cycle power plant under construction, InterGen signed a network usage agreement with RWE and looked for a buyer for further implementation, whom it found in 2005 in the Norwegian energy company Statkraft . This officially started the construction of the power plant on June 30th of that year and laid the foundation stone for the currently largest gas and steam power plant (800 megawatts) in Germany, which went into operation on October 17, 2007, on November 22nd.

Also in 2005, BASF and Shell sold their joint subsidiary Basell to a consortium led by the American billionaire Leonard Blavatnik . As announced, the company ceased production of HDPE on May 31, while production of the catalyst continued for a few weeks. Clariant sold Clariant Acetyl Building Blocks GmbH & Co. KG (CABB) to the Dutch Gilde Buy-Out Fund and ceased Azo operations at the end of the year. In 2007, the AXA Private Equity Group took over the majority of the shares. With the hydrogen application center of the community of interests hydrogen (IGH2), which on January 16, 2007 in the association HyCologne - Hydrogen Region Rheinland e. V. passed, hydrogen was used energetically for the first time in the chemical park. From November 1st, Helmut Weihers took over the management of InfraServ Knapsack after Horst Dieter Schüddemage had retired.

In the following years, attempts were made to attract new companies to the location. In 2006 Sopack moved into the former Azo warehouse and rented out storage spaces for industrial machines. Sopack is part of the Lintermann group of companies, which also includes Imotech Engineering GmbH (steel and pipeline construction) and Jägers GmbH & Co. KG (personnel services), which are already active on site. In May of that year, the Kube & Kubenz forwarding company also came to Knapsack. In July, planning began for the construction of an RDF power plant from InfraServ together with Sotec GmbH , for which 105 million euros were to be invested; construction began in September of that year and the topping-out ceremony was celebrated in May 2007. At the end of the year, Clariant closed the SKS-6 system because the product ( layered silicate as a detergent raw material) was no longer in demand. For the regional 2010 structural funding program, the city of Hürth, together with InfraServ and RWE, participated in the regional structural funding program in North Rhine-Westphalia under the title "Energy and Chemical Center Knapsack" (ECC).

The 100th anniversary of the chemical park was celebrated in August 2007. The EBS power plant officially commenced operation on March 25, 2009 under the umbrella of the newly founded EBS Kraftwerk GmbH , a joint venture between E.ON Energy from Waste AG and InfraServ Knapsack; it produces an electrical output of 33 megawatts and up to 1.2 million tons of process steam, which is provided annually to supply heat to the chemical park. The annual recycling capacity is 240,000 tons of substitute fuels. In 2009 Statkraft also submitted plans according to which the construction of a further smaller combined cycle power plant at the site was examined. After 2 years of construction, this second combined cycle power plant "Knapsack II" was opened in June 2013.

Operating company and plant management

Since the establishment of today's Chemical Park Knapsack as a company for the production of calcium cyanamide, the operating companies have changed several times. Especially at the beginning and after the Second World War, the naming and management were changed several times:

designation	place	Duration	Plant manager	particularities
Society for nitrogen fertilizers GmbH	Western rules	Start of construction in 1906 until March 1909	1908–1909: Johannes Maruhn	Plant management was operated in parallel with the Deutsche Carbid-Aktiengesellschaft until 1909. Maruhn was the first plant manager during the establishment of the site by the Gesellschaft für nitrogen fertilizer GmbH in Westeregeln, of which he had been director since 1904.
German carbide stock corporation	Frankfurt am Main	May 31, 1906 to March 1909	1908–1909: Johannes Maruhn	The plant management was operated in parallel with the Society for Nitrogen Fertilizers GmbH from the start of construction until 1909.
Joint stock company for nitrogen fertilizers in Knapsack	Cologne district on the Rhine	1909 to October 1, 1951	1909–1910: Johannes Maruhn 1910–1928: Constantin Krauß (1864–1928) 1928–1946: Max Bachmann (1881–1954) 1946–1951: Friedbert Ritter (1900–1981)	From 1916 50% of the shares belonged to the Farbwerke vorm. Meister Lucius & Brüning AG, later Hoechst AG, until 1919 they acquired the majority of the shares and took over the company. From 1925 the AG became part of the IG Farbenindustrie. Krauss became plant manager of the plants for the production of calcium cyanamide and was significantly involved in improving the production process (Polzeniusz-Krauss process). His successor, Bachmann, was already in charge of assistance and commercial management during the construction phase and in 1910 took over the overall management of the company. After the National Socialist seizure of power , he brought Knapsack to the ruling ideological line and expanded the company into a "war model company". After his retirement - probably under pressure from the Allies - he remained on the board of Knapsack-Griesheim AG until 1952. Ritter was used as trustee by the British occupiers ; Knapsack was expanded to become a phosphorus location, the plant was restructured and Knapsack-Griesheim AG was founded.
Knapsack-Griesheim Aktiengesellschaft for nitrogen fertilizers and autogenous technology	US administration Knapsack district of Cologne	October 1, 1951 to September 26, 1952	1951–1952: Friedbert Ritter (1900–1981)
Knapsack-Griesheim Aktiengesellschaft	Knapsack near Cologne	September 26, 1952 to January 1, 1965	1951–1961 (?): Friedbert Ritter possibly until 1961: Georg Janning (1918–1992) 1961–1965: Hugo Querengässer	After the restructuring, Ritter was probably replaced by Janning, but based on the sources it is unclear whether he was plant manager at all; In 1961 he succeeded Ritter as CEO of Knapsack-Griesheim AG, and in the same year Querengässer became plant manager in Knapsack.
Knapsack Aktiengesellschaft	Huerth	January 1, 1965 to July 10, 1974	1965–1966: Hugo Querengässer 1966–1970: Günther Breil 1970–1974: Hellmut Gäbler (1922–2012)	The successors in the plant management were Breil in 1966 and Gäbler in 1970, who had joined the organic development of Knapsack-Griesheim AG in 1953 and under whose management the site became the Knapsack plant of Hoechst AG in 1974, he was then head of division A from 1975 of Hoechst AG, Frankfurt.
Hoechst AG, Knapsack plant	Huerth	July 10, 1974 to December 31, 1997	1974–1975: Hellmut Gäbler 1975–1993: Max-Rudolf Buchmann (* 1928) 1993–1997: Horst-Dieter Schüddemage (* 1941)	Buchmann had been director of the Knapsack plant since 1974, and from 1975 he replaced Gäbler as plant manager. Schüddemage was plant manager during the dissolution of Hoechst AG in 1994 and accompanied the conversion of the Knapsack site into an open chemical park under the management of InfraServ Knapsack until 1997
Knapsack Chemical Park	Huerth	since January 1, 1998	1997–2005: Horst-Dieter Schüddemage 2005 to 2012: Helmut Weihers since 2013 Ralf Müller and Clemens Mittelviefhaus	Management by InfraServ GmbH Knapsack & Co. KG since January 1, 1998, at times up to 25 individual companies at the location. Schüddemage was Managing Director of InfraServ Knapsack from 1997 to 2005, and in 2005 he was replaced by Helmut Weihers, who had been Chief Operating Officer (COO) since 2003 . Ralf Müller (chairman) and Clemens Mittelviefhaus have taken over the management of the company since January 1, 2013. In 2019 InfraServ Knapsack was renamed to YNCORIS GmbH & Co. KG.

Environmental problems and environmental protection

Chemical park and town of Knapsack in the 1960s, aerial view

The topic of environmental pollution and environmental protection played a central role in Knapsack from the start. Even before the calcium cyanamide and carbide plants were built, the operators were confronted with demands and complaints from the residents of the village Knapsack, who feared damage to their fields from the fumes from the factory and a decline in the value of their properties. After a tour of the plant in Westeregeln, the responsible trade inspector Maruhn guaranteed compensation for potential damage caused by the new plant. With the expansion to carbide production, the fear of explosions was added, but these objections were also overruled. The protection of the environment was of secondary importance at this time, however, thirteen conditions for the safe operation of the facilities and the protection of the workers were already set in the approval notice of November 22, 1906. Above all, the employees had to be protected from explosions and the heat of over 2000 ° C.

When the ammunition production facility was due to be expanded in 1915, the Royal Commercial Inspectorate in Cologne-Land urged the expansion plans to be implemented quickly. The district doctor involved in the approval process wrote in his report that "with the appropriate wind direction, the air contained a gas that was very irritating to the mucous membranes of the airways and caused severe coughing." He recommended "granting the concession only with the proviso that, if necessary, special measures can be imposed to prevent gross nuisance or damage to the health of the neighborhood." Contrary to the expert opinion, on December 29, 1915, the war ministry ordered the rapid completion of the facilities. The resolution issued on February 22, 1916 contained the condition that dust and fumes, sewage, sludge and ammonia gas had to be rendered harmless in the event of a malfunction. On July 22, 1921, the resolution was converted verbatim into a certificate of approval.

In the following years, air pollution control measures and measures for wastewater treatment were integrated into the further development of production, usually coupled with measures for increased economic efficiency and better use of resources. However, a real environmental protection concept only existed (worldwide) long after the Second World War and culminated, among other things, in the publication "Limits to Growth" by the Club of Rome in 1972 and in Germany in 1974 in the drafting of a Federal Immission Control Act to protect the environment from harmful environmental effects. As early as the 1950s, Knapsack started thinking about how to further improve the environmental impact of the production facilities through process changes and dust separation. In 1961, Willy Brandt demanded "The sky over the Rhine and Ruhr must turn blue again" and in the same year a separate department for wastewater treatment, air pollution control and waste disposal was set up in Knapsack as the "Central Water / Air" (ZWL), from 1968 "Water / Air Department" Luft "(AWL) and maintained until today under different names. Until the 1990s, however, so-called "end-of-pipe" measures such as incineration plants, chimneys, sewage treatment plants and landfills were in the foreground to minimize the negative effects and thus also burdened production costs, today the focus is primarily on integrated measures and sustainable environmental management in focus, which already take environmental protection into account in production planning and thus also save costs.

Wastewater treatment

News Lodge of the sewage company Knapsack GmbH, founded in 1929

The increase in wastewater from the chemical park in the early years, primarily from acetylene production and the production facilities based on it, as well as in the adjacent Goldenberg power plant and the Degussa AG production facilities, resulted in increasing pollution of the Duffesbach , which, in addition to the wastewater from industry also absorbed the municipal wastewater from the city of Hürth and southern Cologne before it emptied into the Rhine . At the Knapsack chemical plant, it was mainly the cloudy milk of lime that fell off as an unused by-product from the hydrolysis of carbide to acetylene. The smell or scent of the water, which existed until the 1960s, gave the stream its nickname "Duftesbach".

In order to relieve the pollution of the wastewater, the industrial companies in Knapsack jointly founded the Abwasser-Gesellschaft Knapsack GmbH in 1929, which from 1931 took over the purification of the wastewater and discharged the treated wastewater into the Duffesbach. According to the state of the art, the company's sewage treatment plant initially consisted of three earth basins as settling basins for the sludge components of the wastewater, including the solid components of milk of lime (10% hydrated lime). The sludge was pumped onto the neighboring dry sludge beds, which gradually led to the creation of a high pile. After the stockpile slipped in 1937, the sludge was pumped into the charred pits of the Roddergrube from 1938 to 1958. Two of the earth basins were replaced by concrete basins in 1937/38, the third basin was used for carp breeding.

With the conversion of acetylene production to a dry process, which was developed in Knapsack from 1925, the hydrated lime could be produced economically and usable and was returned to carbide production after 1929 via a quicklime plant; The wastewater pollution by milk of lime decreased accordingly, but at the same time the pollution with sulfur, nitrogen and phosphorus components increased due to the necessary wet cleaning of the acetylene and made it necessary to pre-purify the waste water through chlorine oxidation.

It was not until the late 1950s that, in addition to mechanical wastewater treatment, biological purification methods such as trickling fields or bacteria-populated trickling filters were introduced in municipal sewage treatment plants to break down organic components of the wastewater in activated sludge . Up until the 1960s it was assumed that corresponding measures could not be used in industrial systems. After initial experiments with the Institute for Water, Soil and Air Hygiene in Berlin, however, the first experiments with pretreated wastewater could be started in Knapsack in 1964, which were carried out in the later 1960s in both wastewater treatment plants (the wastewater treatment plant in the Hürth plant was opened in 1965 in Put into operation) with deep, bottom-aerated activated sludge basins. The first biological purification stage was put into operation in 1967/68. At the beginning of the 1990s, a re-precipitation of the biologically treated wastewater for the precipitation of phosphates was introduced, which was supposed to avoid eutrophication . Since 1997, this post-precipitation has been supplemented by a biological process in which ammonium is broken down from ammonium-containing waste water into atmospheric nitrogen via a bacterial cascade.

A primary clarifier with a pH value of 9 to 10 was used for the hydroxide precipitation of heavy metals by means of a lime input system, and phosphates were precipitated as calcium phosphate in the same basin . At the same time, more and more pre-cleaning stages such as the neutralization of acids, the pre-precipitation of cyanides with iron salts, the removal of chlorinated hydrocarbons, the recovery of solvents and the saponification of wastewater that could contain pesticides have been integrated into the individual operations. Through regular checks, for example for fish toxicity and the proportions of various ingredients, the wastewater quality is determined to this day and effectively kept below the required limit values ​​of the Water Resources Act and the Waste Water Tax Act. Large reservoirs with a capacity of 26,000 m³ were created as retention basins in order to guarantee functionality even with large amounts of water, for example during so-called "rainfalls of the century".

Air purification

Panorama with "12 apostles"

Most of the air pollution at the beginning of production in the chemical park was caused by the open carbide furnaces, in which carbon monoxide was produced and had to be burned off. This resulted in a high level of dust and exhaust gas pollution, which was reduced by switching to semi-closed ovens in 1938. In calcium cyanamide production, too, the furnaces were increasingly economically but also ecologically optimized by converting retort furnaces to channel furnaces and later to rotary furnaces. After the almost complete destruction in World War II, the resumption of fertilizer production was the highest priority. Scientists and technicians from Piesteritz came to Knapsack with the knowledge of building closed carbide furnaces, so that the first fully closed furnace could be constructed in 1955 and the second in 1958. The furnace gas was collected and fed to other production facilities as fuel, which improved the degree of burnout to water and carbon dioxide and reduced the carbon monoxide content . As a result of the wet cleaning process, the gas components were also increasingly being used for wastewater treatment.

Dankeskirche in Knapsack, demolished in 1976

The main problem with the production facilities in Knapsack was the high level of dust generated both in the chemical plant and in the neighboring plants such as the briquetting plant and the power plant. All the solids supplied, especially lignite, ores, coke and lime, had to be poured, transported and crushed and while smoke and combustion gases could be discharged and flared through tall chimneys, the dust always remained close to the industry. White lime and black soot covered the area and impaired the lives of local residents. Due to the enormous air pollution from the chemical plants and the coal-fired power plants, Knapsack increasingly gained the reputation of being one of the dirtiest places in Germany between 1940 and 1960. During a visit by the North Rhine-Westphalian Prime Minister Franz Meyers in 1966, he decided to give up the town of Knapsack and relocate the people, and this plan was not given up despite his defeat by Heinz Kühn in the same year. Accordingly, the resettlement of the place began in 1970, which was completed in 1982 with the demolition of the last house.

Following the adoption of the Federal Immission Control Act of 1974, five pollution areas were defined in North Rhine-Westphalia in which the air quality was intensively monitored and measures for improvement were ordered. Knapsack was part of the “Rheinschiene Süd” pollution area. In 1975 two central residue incineration plants (RVAs) were built, which replaced the many decentralized incineration plants and in which all essential exhaust gas flows with organic gases and vapors were integrated. Improved dedusting filters and exhaust gas scrubbers were also installed, which further improved the emissions situation. When the TA Luft came into force in 1986 and set new standards, only a few emission sources had to be removed, which happened in the following years. Particularly intensive exhaust gas sources were equipped with measuring systems, and all emission sources are now recorded in an emissions register and are regularly monitored. Measuring stations were set up by the State Office for Immission Control in Essen for area-wide measurements . The polluted areas could be lifted again in 1989, the closure of the opencast mine in the Hürth area (1988) and the shutdown of the carbide and phosphorus furnaces led to further reductions in immissions, so that Knapsack no longer has particularly high values ​​today.

Waste management and hazardous waste disposal

Integrated waste management began in Knapsack when the sewage sludge was deposited on its own dry pile. After the slides, the dry heap was relocated to the charred United Ville mine , whereby the charred lignite mining pits were integrated into the waste management concept for the first time. The air purification and of course the production itself resulted in the need for the disposal of solids and waste. The pure storage of the sewage sludge in the pit was replaced by the use of the hydrated lime to bind fly dust in the neighboring Goldenberg coal-fired power station, and the resulting granulate was transported to the United Ville opencast mine on conveyor belts. In 1964 a first chamber filter press was built in which the sludge could be compressed, a second followed in 1969 and a third in 1977. To this day, all sewage sludge waste, including the activated sludge, is thickened in these plants, bound with lime and then pressed, the press cake is in stored in the landfill.

Knapsack hazardous waste dump, in the background the former household waste dump

The production of up to 300,000 tons of gypsum per year as a by-product in the production of phosphoric acid created another reason for optimizing waste management after 1960. In 1972, the state of the art was established with the Federal Waste Disposal Act and the approval was regulated Landfill of the Knapsack chemical plant approved together with the municipal waste landfill of the city of Cologne and the Rheinbraun ash landfill . With the increasing production of phosphorus, granulated silicate slag ( calcium metasilicate ), which arose from the calcium component of the phosphate ore and gravel, was added as a by-product of the production in the phosphorus furnaces . Due to its properties, the material could be used as a landfill building material, between which the gypsum masses were stored packed in polyethylene films. The resulting solid landfill body could be drained via a drainage system. Barium sulphate from the electrolysis plant and sewage sludge, excavated soil and demolition material were stored in separate fields . Due to its good quality, the seepage water could be fed into the Erft untreated until 1987 , but due to the sulphate it contains, it has been fed into the Hürth plant via a pressure pipe since 1987. Since 1997, the untreated seepage water from the Cologne household waste dump has also been fed into the sewage treatment plant and treated there.

In 1984, when polluted seepage water escaped on the outskirts of Kierdorf, a contaminated site backfilling from municipal, commercial and industrial wastewater was discovered in the Concordia landfill site, for which no sole causer could be identified. The water has been discharged into the city of Erftstadt's sewage treatment plant and purified since 1990 . In the 1990s, amendments to the Waste Act required additional measures to protect groundwater. Since then, hazardous waste from the chemical plant has only been allowed to be stored above the maximum groundwater line, and since 1998 a diaphragm wall has also protected the landfill against lateral ingress of groundwater.

Products from the Knapsack Chemical Park

In the course of the development of the Knapsack Chemical Park, the product range has been constantly expanded and modified, with the respective operators adapting to the market situation. While the company was initially geared towards the production of calcium cyanamide and calcium carbide, and when it was expanded, the focus was later on acetylene chemistry and, after the Second World War, phosphorus and chlorine chemistry.

The following table gives a complete overview of the products that were manufactured at the site; fabrics still produced today are highlighted in gray.

Current design

The former Hoechst site has become an association of site participants that are still connected in a variety of ways through a series of service relationships, but are entrepreneurially independent and independent. The largest companies today are Bayer AG, Division CropScience ( crop protection ), Clariant , (special chemicals, flame retardants), LyondellBasell ( polyolefins ), CABB ( monochloroacetic acid ), Vinnolit ( polyvinyl chloride , caustic soda , chlorine, hydrogen), Israel Chemicals Ltd. (ICL) ( phosphorus ) and Statkraft (combined cycle power plants). The total area of ​​the chemical park is currently 180 hectares or 1.8 km², of which around 20 hectares can be used immediately as developed open space for further settlements.

If you add the relocation of the neighboring paper mill Rheinpapier of the Finnish paper group Myllykoski Corporation (now UPM-Kymmene ), around two billion euros have been or will be invested in new plants and plant upgrades since the Knapsack Chemical Park was founded in 1998. Together with the neighboring Goldenberg power station and the paper mill, the chemical park forms the Knapsack Energy and Chemical Center (ECC Knapsack).

Infrastructure

Factory access to Knapsack 2009

After-work house Knapsack

→ Main article: Yncoris

As a chemical park operator and service provider, YNCORIS offers the companies at the location a wide range of different industry and chemical-related services, for example plant planning and construction, maintenance, repairs of all kinds, security services such as plant security and fire brigade, environmental protection, logistics, and a common location - and environmental communication, a company medical department, company restaurants, a car workshop and the culture and event center Feierabendhaus Knapsack , a listed building by the Cologne architect Karl Hell, built in 1956 .

In addition to electricity, YNCORIS also provides various gases and liquids for production at the site via a pipeline system. This involves fresh water, fully demineralized water, steam, natural gas, compressed air, measurement and control air as well as oxygen and nitrogen from the neighboring Praxair system. In addition, there are the gases in the compound within the chemical park, which are provided by the local companies. These include chlorine, caustic soda and hydrogen from Vinnolit as well as hydrogen chloride from CABB. The chemical park is connected to the LyondellBasell and Shell Deutschland plants in Wesseling via a pipeline route. This route will supply the LyondellBasell site with propylene and YNCORIS Höchst with ethylene.

The electricity for the Knapsack Chemical Park is mainly produced by the neighboring Goldenberg power plant and the site's own substitute fuel power plant. Statkraft's two gas and steam power plants, which are located at the Knapsack Chemical Park, on the other hand, offset the power peaks in the general power grid. The chemical park is protected against power outages and malfunctions via several parallel networks.

The sewage disposal is also important for the local industry, which is ensured by the sewage company Knapsack GmbH, which was founded in 1929 by the companies Hoechst, Degussa and RWE. The company operates two three-stage mechanical-biological-chemical sewage treatment plants with an extensive canal system, through which all industrial, sanitary and surface water is cleaned. Due to the special requirements at the site, denitrification , phosphate replenishment and oxygen enrichment are used as additional cleaning processes .

Transport services are provided by KCG Knapsack Cargo GmbH, who operate the public container terminals with rail connections at the site and have a capacity of up to 50,000 containers per year. The system is networked with the Rheinhafen Köln-Niehl and the transshipment station Cologne Eifeltor . Transport options at the location are provided by the Schmidt shipping company, which focuses on bulk goods and has a storage capacity of 40,000 m³ in more than 100 silos, which is mainly used for polypropylene and polyvinyl chloride granules.

Manufacturing

Various companies that produce a wide range of products for the chemical industry are currently located in the Knapsack Chemical Park. The spectrum ranges from basic chemicals such as caustic soda , chlorine and phosphoric acid to pesticides and runway de- icers (Safeway KA) to various plastics such as polyvinyl chloride and polypropylene . Various production components are used in the chemical park's composite material.

With 220 employees, the Swiss group Clariant is one of the largest production companies in the chemical park. It produces a wide range of different specialty chemicals in five plants, including the runway deicer based on potassium acetate Safeway KA and halogen-free flame retardants (Exolit OP) . Clariant also has a research center for environmentally friendly flame retardants, which are brought to market here. A large number of Clariant's products are based on phosphorus , including phosphorus pentoxide , phosphoric acid esters , polyphosphoric acid and ammonium polyphosphate ( Exolit AP 422 and Exolit AP 462 (modified)). The phosphorus pentasulphide production of BK Giulini is also based on phosphorus chemistry . Around 20 employees are involved in the production of the substance that is used to manufacture additives for lubricants .

Polypropylene is the largest product group in the Knapsack Chemical Park. The manufacturer LyondellBasell produces the plastic in two systems in powder and granulate form. Together with the Wesseling site , it is the company's largest site in Europe with around 2,300 employees and 12 plants for the production of polyethylene and polypropylene; Wesseling / Knapsack thus owns around 25% of the company's global and 50% of its European capacities. Around 170 employees work for LyondellBasell in Knapsack, the production volume of the systems here is around 400,000 tonnes of polypropylene (trade name Moplen ) per year, most of them using the so-called Spheriphol process. This makes polypropylene the largest product group in the Knapsack Chemical Park.

With around 280 employees, Vinnolit is the largest chemical company on the site and is the second company to produce plastics. The company has specialized in the production of polyvinyl chloride and the monomer vinyl chloride from rock salt , making it one of the largest PVC producers in the world. Vinnolit's PVC capacity at the Knapsack site is 170,000 t / a (the company's total capacity is 780,000 t / a), the capacity for the intermediate vinyl chloride 350,000 t / a (total capacity 665,000 t / a). In addition to these products, other intermediate products such as caustic soda , dichloroethane and hydrogen are part of the company's portfolio. It makes these available to other companies such as CABB GmbH, from which Vinnolit receives hydrogen chloride , within the framework of the material network . In one of the world's largest and most effective plants with around 90 employees, CABB produces monochloroacetic acid and sodium monochloroacetate as well as acetyl chloride and hydrogen chloride based on acetic acid and acetic anhydride as well as chlorine and hydrogen from the composite.

Bayer AG, CropScience division, manufactures a range of crop protection products and precursors in Knapsack that are used worldwide. You benefit from the chlorine and caustic soda in the composite, which are mainly provided by Vinnolit. The portfolio of substances produced in Knapsack includes Triazophos , Carbendazim , Isoxadifen , Fluquinconazole , Diclofop and Mefenpyr .

The branch of the American company Praxair , which operates an air separation plant and a filling plant at the Knapsack site, is not located on the direct chemical park site, but on a neighboring property . The company with around 70 employees fills the gases argon , oxygen and nitrogen as liquefied gases, and nitrogen and oxygen are fed into a pipeline network and thus distributed to consumers in the chemical park and in the region.

literature

• Helmut Neßeler: 100 years of the Knapsack chemical site , published by InfraServ GmbH & Co. Knapsack KG , 2007.
• Helmut Neßeler, Hans-Josef Blatt, Manfred Faust: Knapsack Chemie - Pictures from 95 years of industrial history in the Rhineland. Klartext-Verlag, Essen 2002, ISBN 3-89861-121-3 .
• Helmut Neßeler: 100 years of the Knapsack chemical site - a historical overview. In: Hürther Contributions to History, Culture and Regional Studies Volume 87, 2008; Pp. 81-102. ISSN  1864-5348
• Horst-Dieter Schüddemage, Werner Pieper: Knapsack Chemie - From the carbide factory to the chemical park. Klartext-Verlag, Essen 2002, ISBN 3-89861-097-7 .

Web links

• YNCORIS / InfraServ Knapsack
• Knapsack Chemical Park
• The history of chemistry in Knapsack

Individual evidence

The “History” section is largely based on Helmut Neßeler: 100 Years of the Knapsack Chemical Site and The History of Chemistry in Knapsack .

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i} According to Helmut Neßeler: 100 years of the Knapsack chemical site - a historical overview. In: Hürther Contributions to History, Culture and Regional Studies Volume 87, 2008; Pp. 81-102.
2. ↑ InfraServ GmbH & Co. Knapsack KG: 1950 - 1959 . www.infraserv-knapsack.de. Retrieved July 14, 2009.
3. ↑ Successfully two-pronged . (PDF) Knapsack Spiegel from August 9, 2002, page 4
4. ↑ silafluofen data sheet . www.alanwood.net. Retrieved May 18, 2009.
5. ↑ formetanate data sheet . www.alanwood.net. Retrieved May 18, 2009.
6. ↑ Spin-off report of Hoechst AG and Celanese AG ( Memento of the original dated May 8, 2005 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF)  
7. ↑ backdated to January 1, 2000; Wacker and Celanese complete sale of their PVC business to Advent International  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as broken. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. .  Press release from Vinnolit GmbH from July 20, 2000.
8. ↑ decided integration of Vintron in Vinnolit GmbH & Co. KG , Chemie.de of 5 August of 2003.
9. ↑ Farewell to an oldie . (PDF) Knapsack Spiegel, April 5, 2002, pp. 1–2.
10. ↑ Dr. Michael Winhold new managing director at Vintron . Chemie.de, January 23, 2003.
11. ^ Vinnolit invests in the Knapsack site , Chemie.de from December 16, 2004.
12. ↑ IGH2 becomes HyCologne . Energieportal24 from January 23, 2007.
13. ↑ Unless otherwise stated, information from Helmut Neßeler: 100 years of the Knapsack chemical site, published by InfraServ GmbH & Co. Knapsack KG, 2007; P. 91.
14. ↑ ^{a b c d e f} Section based on: Werner Pieper: Environmental protection and chemistry in Knapsack. The history of environmental protection in the Knapsack works of Hoechst AG. In: Schüddemage & Pieper 2002; Pp. 299-331.
15. ^ According to Helmut Neßeler: 100 years of the Knapsack chemical site, published by InfraServ GmbH & Co. Knapsack KG, 2007; P. 91 .; Supplemented by information from the website and other sources.
16. ↑ Birgit Lehmann: Clariant closes the plant in Knapsack. Kölner Stadtanzeiger from November 25, 2008.
17. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h} InfraServ GmbH & Co. Knapsack KG: Chemical Park Knapsack - Innovative chemical and industrial location with a future. Information brochure, 3rd edition 2007.
18. ↑ LyondellBasell at the Wesseling / Knapsack site
19. ↑ ^{a b} Insights - Basell Wesseling / Knapsack site (PDF) Basell Polyolefins
20. ↑ ^{a b} Vinnolit at a glance . Information from Vinnolit GmbH & Co. KG.
21. ↑ Knapsack - most efficient large plant ( Memento of the original from April 15, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Information from CABB GmbH.  
22. ↑ isoxadifen data sheet . www.alanwood.net. Retrieved May 18, 2009.
23. ↑ fluquinconazole data sheet . www.alanwood.net. Retrieved May 18, 2009.

Coordinates: 50 ° 51 ′ 32 "  N , 6 ° 50 ′ 40"  E