Prefere Paraform
| Prefere Paraform | |
|---|---|
| legal form | GmbH & Co. KG |
| founding | 1856 |
| Seat | Mainz-Mombach |
| Number of employees | > 145 (2013) |
| Website | www.prefere.com |
Prefere Paraform is a medium-sized chemical company in Mainz-Mombach and belongs to Silverfleet Capital , a European private equity company.
The Mombach plant belonged to the Ineos group of companies until 2019 and specializes in methanol derivatives. Around 145 people work here and achieve a production volume of around 125 kilotons per year. A turnover of 60 million euros (2012) is achieved.
history
The brothers Heinrich and Hermann Dietze made use of organic chemistry , who based on the tradition of the ash burner in the middle of the 19th century founded a factory for the processing of byproducts of charring . The production of the Dietzes, but also several other small businesses, for example Werner and Amelung, were combined in 1865 and led to the establishment of the factory, at that time still far from Mombach , but conveniently located on the new Mainz – Bingen railway line.
The first production took place in 1856 and in 1865 the Chemical Industry Association - under the leadership of the Dietze brothers - took over the plant in Mainz. The further processing of the substances from the charring was concentrated in Mainz. The first products were acetic acid and verdigris (= copper acetate). In 1876 the industrial production of acetic acid solution began.
With the advent of steel production from coke, the need for charcoal decreased significantly. The focus was increasingly on the manufacture of chemical products. In 1895, the production of formaldehyde from methanol ("wood spirit") began, initially for the purpose of disinfecting and preserving animal corpses and human tissue. In particular, as a result of research work by BASF, more and more applications for this versatile chemical have been developed, so that the demand for formaldehyde grew rapidly. Until the end of the First World War , the "Verein fürchemische Industrie" had a monopoly on this chemical in Germany, as methanol production from wood was dominated. When the first synthetic methanol synthesis from "water gas" was started in Leuna in 1920, this monopoly collapsed and the decline began. A merger with a Dutch company in 1928, which brought in further charring works in Racibórz / Silesia, did nothing to change this.
In 1931 Degussa AG took over the financially troubled association because they needed charcoal for the production of sodium cyanide using the Castner-Kellner process (sodium cyanide) and they already had a charring plant in Constance. The new DEGUSSA subsidiary operated under the name "Holzkohlen-Industrie-AG" ("HIAG"), which soon had to close several charring plants. To this end, chemical production in the Mainz-Mombach and Konstanz plants was expanded. In 1934 the first paraformaldehyde production began.
In 1942 the factory was renamed the DEGUSSA factory in Mombach. After the Second World War , the plant became an important research and production location for DEGUSSA AG alongside Constance. In 1947 an industrial process for the production of cyanuric chloride and in 1948 a process for methionine were developed here, which over time developed into important large-scale products. The manufacturing process for trioxane from formaldehyde was also developed here and later built as a joint venture with BASF in Ludwigshafen. In the meantime, hexamethylenetetramine production was started in 1947 , and a large-scale paraformaldehyde plant was commissioned in 1968.
At times, more than 300 people were employed in Mainz. At the beginning of the 1960s, the number of employees and products began to decline. Some products, such as cyanuric chloride, potassium cyanide and methionine, have been relocated to other locations and the production of some other substances has ceased. The formaldehyde network remained at the site, which includes the production of formaldehyde, paraformaldehyde and hexamethylenetetramine.
In 1977 the production of cyanates began. In 1999, what was then Degussa AG merged with Hüls AG. In the course of the realignment of the resulting Degussa-Hüls AG, on October 1, 1999, the entire business at the Mainz location was merged into Methanova GmbH. The newly founded Methanova was a wholly-owned subsidiary of Degussa-Hüls AG with headquarters in Mainz-Mombach.
In 2000 the hexamethylenetetramine production capacity was expanded. In July 2003, the shares in Methanova GmbH were sold by Degussa AG, which has since been renamed again, to the British INEOS Group. On October 8, 2003, the company was renamed Ineos Paraform GmbH. The change of ownership from Degussa to Ineos Capital was thus also reflected in the company name.
In 2012 a large-scale plant for the production of dimethoxymethane was put into operation. The environmentally friendly process has been applied for a patent.
In 2014 a plasma catalytic exhaust air purification system was put into operation. The system works with innovative technology that has not previously been used in this type of system. That is why the project was supported by the EU-Life funding program . The aim of the project is to minimize the emission of pollutants with the lowest possible operating costs. Ineos Paraform has been part of the Prefere Resins Group since July 2019.
Products
From the raw materials: methanol , ammonia , urea - sodium carbonate and urea potassium carbonate are formaldehyde , paraformaldehyde , methenamine and cyanates (Na, Ka) produced. The largest product in terms of quantity is formaldehyde, which is produced from methanol. About half of the production is sold in the form of 27 different grades, the remaining part is processed into paraformaldehyde (trade name "Granuform", 3 types), methoxymethanol (trade name "Granuform 55 ME") and hexamethylenetetramine (8 types). The hexamethylenetetramine plant operates its own formaldehyde production on a smaller scale for its own supply. Sodium and potassium cyanate (two types of product each) round off the product range. Due to their internal location, the production facilities must meet special requirements for environmental protection and work safety. The company works with the technologies condensation , high temperature condensation , catalytic dehydrogenation and catalytic polymerization .
The company's products are used in melamine resins for chipboard , laminate floors and coatings, sandpaper , pharmaceutical products, the tire industry , surface treatment agents, fuel tablets , agrochemicals and heat protection products .
logistics
Prefere Paraform supplies products to around 50 countries. The transport takes place by means of rail tank cars , truck tankers , intermediate bulk container silo vehicles and in small packaging (big bags and bagged goods). To supply the plant, the company operates a ship loading and unloading facility in the Mainz industrial port. The plant was able to exist for decades due to its convenient location: Prefere Paraform has its own siding at the western end of the Mainz Gleisdreieck , connection to the Mainz industrial port , proximity to Frankfurt Airport and has two independent routes connected to the 643 federal motorway .
Dangerous goods are divided into nine classes worldwide. The plant in Mombach sends dangerous goods of the following classes:
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Class 4.1: Flammable solids (methenamine, paraformaldehyde) |
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Class 8: Corrosive substances (formaldehyde) |
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Class 9: Various dangerous substances and objects. |
Certification
Prefere Paraform has a quality and environmental management system in accordance with ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 , which is regularly assessed by accredited certifiers.
research
Together with the Technical University of Kaiserslautern, Chair of Thermodynamics , the development of a process concept for the production of formaldehyde-derived products is being pursued. The aim of the cooperation is to develop a manufacturing process for two formaldehyde derived products.
The institute has laboratory reactors , phase equilibrium equipments and a distillation column-and was chosen because here experience with the investigation, modeling and simulation formaldehyde-mixtures are present. Process variants are to be examined on a laboratory scale and then implemented on an industrial scale at the Mombach site after the best process has been worked out.
Associations
Ineos Paraform is organized in the formaldehyde sector of the FormaCare Group, a registered Cefic sector group. This group was founded by the European formaldehyde manufacturers as an official representative.
This association work includes the topics of reducing exposure at the workplace, the EU chemicals regulation REACH and the biocide directive .
literature
- INEOS Paraform (Ed.): Chemistry in Mainz-Mombach since 1856: a success story . 1st edition. INEOS Paraform GmbH & Co., Mainz 2006.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Mombach location
- ↑ Friedrich Schütz: Provincial capital and fortress of the German Confederation (1814 / 16-1866) in: Ed .: Franz Dumont , Ferdinand Scherf , Friedrich Schütz : Mainz - The history of the city . Verlag Philipp von Zabern, Mainz 1998 (first edition, p. 811).
- ↑ Company press release dated June 5, 2012
- ↑ EUROPEAN PATENT APPLICATION Process for the production of pure methylal
- ↑ New exhaust air purification system put into operation ( memento of the original from June 7, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Press release from May 17, 2014
Coordinates: 50 ° 1 ′ 5 ″ N , 8 ° 14 ′ 6 ″ E