Swiss salt pans
| Swiss salt pans
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| legal form | Corporation |
| Seat | Pratteln , Switzerland |
| management | Urs Ch. Hofmeier |
| Number of employees | 200 |
| sales | 60–70 million CHF |
| Branch | Salt extraction |
| Website | www.salz.ch |
The Schweizer Salinen is a Swiss company for salt production and processing, which was created in 2014 from the merger of Schweizer Rheinsalinen AG and Saline de Bex SA. The company's headquarters are in Pratteln in the canton of Basel-Landschaft . It has 200 employees, extracts up to 600,000 tons of salt per year and supplies all Swiss cantons with de-icing salt. The shareholders are all cantons of Switzerland and the Principality of Liechtenstein . The annual turnover of Schweizer Salinen AG is between 60 and 70 million Swiss francs a year.
history
The establishment of the first salt pans (1821 to 1845)
In 1821 Carl Christian Friedrich Glenck began to look for salt in northwestern Switzerland based on tips from Peter Merian . He finally found what he was looking for on May 30, 1836 in Muttenz near the Red House on the Rhine at a depth of 107 meters. Due to differences with landowners about the discovery hole, he founded the Glenck, Kornmann & Co. saltworks on June 7, 1837 in the neighboring municipality of Pratteln, in what is now the Schweizerhalle area. Four years later, in 1841, Johann Urban Kym came across salt in Kaiseraugst, Aargau, at a depth of 138 meters, and then founded the Kaiseraugst salt works . There is a competition in Switzerland, which by establishing the 1844 Saline Rheinfelden by Theophil L'Orsa is enhanced. Due to the small amount of salt at the Kaiseraugst salt works, Johann Urban Kym drills for salt again in 1844, this time in the Riburg area near his home town of Möhlin , where he also struck gold.
The last salt works are founded (1846 to 1871)
In Rheinfelden begins 1846 to spa industry for the issue of a concession Soleheilbad to develop that use of the brine makes the saltworks Rheinfelden. In 1847 Kym & Cie. the Kaiseraugst salt works to found the Riburg salt works in Rheinfelden on the border with Möhlin in 1848. In 1852 a steam engine was first used for deep drilling in the Schweizerhalle saltworks. The recently closed saltworks in Kaiseraugst is reactivated in 1865 by a newly founded stock corporation . Meanwhile, entrepreneurs from the canton of Zurich want to found a fifth salt works in Möhlin , against which the Riburg salt works successfully.
Merger to form the United Swiss Rhine Saltworks AG (1872 to 1909)
The three Aargau salt pans (Riburg, Rheinfelden and Kaiseraugst) merged to form Schweizerische Rheinsalinen AG in 1874 , and the name Schweizerische Rheinsalinen was used for the first time. In 1875 the Bözbergbahn was built, giving the Riburg and Rheinfelden salt pans a rail connection. Shortly before the turn of the century, the Riburg saltworks decommissioned its steam engine, and electricity began to arrive. By contrast, new evaporation pans were used in the Schweizerhalle saltworks in 1900 to save coal . In 1909, the Aargau saltworks Riburg and Rheinfelden finally merged with the Schweizerhalle saltworks, creating the company that still exists today, the United Swiss Rhine Saltworks (now the Swiss Rhine Saltworks). The previously private companies now form a company with participation from almost all cantons. The Kaiseraugst salt works will be abandoned due to the merger, the building will be demolished and flooded by the Augst / Wyhlen reservoir .
Coal shortage due to the Second World War (1910 to 1941)
In the Schweizerhalle saltworks, iodine was added to the salt for the first time in 1922 and the first truck for the saltworks was purchased. In 1925 the Riburg salt works followed with salt iodization and a pipeline-like brine line was completed between the Rheinfelder brine baths and the Riburg salt works . The outbreak of World War II creates a coal shortage. The Schweizerhalle salt works then installs an electric steam boiler; An energy-saving, but coal-heated evaporator system is being installed in Riburg.
Closure of the Rheinfelden salt works (1942 to 1986)
In contrast to the other two companies, no adjustments are made to the Rheinfelden salt works due to the lack of coal (e.g. electrification). Instead, the saltworks will be closed in favor of the Riburg saltworks. The vacant building was used by the Swiss Army until 1952 . The steam locomotive of the Riburg salt works is replaced by a diesel locomotive in 1958 . In 1970, the vacant area of the Rheinfelden saltworks was built over by a housing estate and the Riburg saltworks was completely renovated over a period of three years. In 1973, what was then the largest single evaporator in Europe was inaugurated. In 1975 all Swiss cantons except Vaud entered the company as shareholders through an inter-cantonal concordat , thus covering their salt requirements from the Rhine saltworks. The canton of Vaud is supplied with salt by the Bex salt mine. In 1982, a new administration building was built in Schweizerhalle, and in 1986 the fire disaster struck the chemical and pharmaceutical company Sandoz at the same location , which made Schweizerhalle a notoriety. In the same year, a solution cavern collapsed in the Riburg salt works, which is why Hauptstrasse 7 between Möhlin and Rheinfelden had to be briefly interrupted.
In the canton of Zurich was in 1955 with the fluoridation started and introduced in Switzerland 1,983th
The Rhine saltworks in upheaval (1987 to today)
Between 1991 and 1993 the Riburg saltworks are shut down due to insufficient utilization and a plan for the final abandonment is developed. In 1995, the Swiss saltworks on the Rhine had to pay the city of Rheinfelden CHF 8 million as compensation for the possible salinisation of the groundwater supply as a result of the cavern collapse of 1986. The Solvay Switzerland salt works in Bad Zurzach are closed in 1995, which means that the Rhine salt works receive a further order volume of 70,000 tons of salt annually. Due to the record winter of 1999 and the associated increased demand for road salt , 1999 will be a record year for the Rhine saltworks. Despite the amount of 505,000 tons of salt produced, a bottleneck arose. In the winter of 2003 there was again a shortage of road salt. The Rhine salt works decide to build another warehouse. The foundation stone for the Saldome is laid in the following year and the largest dome building in Switzerland is built. Due to the insolvency of Solvay , the order volume of 70,000 tons from 1995 is lost again.
In 2011, the Swiss Rheinsalinen AG decided to build a new Saldome. The “Saldome2”, which was officially opened in May 2012, has a storage capacity of well over 100,000 tons of de-icing salt, with an area of 11,300 square meters and a span of 120 meters. This makes it the largest wooden dome building in Europe.
Active salt pans
Riburg salt works
The Riburg salt works are located in the Rheinfelden-Ost industrial area in the western part of the Riburg area , right next to the entrance to Möhlin . The plant itself is located in the Rheinfeld municipal area; However, some of the drilling fields with the associated pipelines and pumping stations are also located on Möhliner soil. The area is made accessible by a connection to the Bözbergbahn via Möhlin station and an industrial feeder to the junction of the A3 in Rheinfelden-Ost. The saline was founded by Johann Urban Kym in 1848 after drilling for the first time . In 1973 the plant was rebuilt, which was a pioneering achievement across Europe at the time. Due to insufficient capacity utilization, the saltworks stood still from 1990 to 1993; nevertheless the location was not abandoned. The hourly salt production of the saline is about 54 tons. There are several production halls (boilers), a silo tower, three storage halls (including the Saldome ) and two old salt drilling rigs on the area of the salt works.
Saline Riburg mainly produces thawing and industrial salt, as well as brine for the neighboring brine baths in the center of Rheinfeld.
Saline Schweizerhalle
The Schweizerhalle saltworks was founded on June 7th, 1837 by Carl Christian Friedrich Glenck , making it the company's oldest saltworks. The industrial area Schweizerhalle was named after her, Hall is an old German word for saline and salt. In 1852 the saltworks used the first steam engines , founded a company health insurance fund and introduced salt iodination for the first time.
The filling systems for table salt, agricultural salt and bath salts are located in the Saline Schweizerhalle. The headquarters of the Swiss Rhine Saltworks and Die Salzkammer , a museum in the former director's residence Villa Glenck, are located near the saltworks. There is a rail connection via the Muttenz marshalling yard.
Saline Bex
In 1680, the salt deposits were discovered in Le Bévieux near Bex and just four years later tunnels were being driven into the mountain to mine the “white gold”. Until the 18th century the salt was mined (dry), since the 19th century wet mining has been used, i.e. H. water is drawn into the bearings to dissolve the salt in them. The brine is pumped up, the water evaporates and the salt obtained from it is cleaned and processed. In the meantime, an approximately 50-kilometer-long labyrinth of corridors and shafts runs through the mountain and the salt mine extracts around 10,000 tons of salt per year. In 2014 the Saline de Bex joined forces with the Swiss Rhine Saltworks to form the Swiss Saltworks - Salines Suisses.
Former salt pans
Rheinfelden salt works
The Rheinfelden Saline was founded in 1844 by Theophil L'Orsa and Theodor Hoffmann-Merian in the east of Rheinfeld. The salt works had a railway connection, which represented an extension of the connection to the Riburg salt works. The tracks are still there, but they will be taken back by the forest or used as storage space by the Josef Meyer wagon factory . Due to the Second World War and the coal shortage it created, the saltworks were shut down in 1942 due to a lack of electrification in favor of the Riburg saltworks. The area was then used by the Swiss Army until 1952, when the area was finally sold in 1970. Today there is a housing estate on the site, the name of which is «Alte Saline» and the tracks in the forest are reminiscent of the former saltworks.
Kaiseraugst salt works
The Kaiseraugst salt works was founded in 1843 after it was found by Johann Urban Kym in 1841. The saline, which was located directly on the Rhine , was closed again in 1847 due to insufficient salt deposits, and Johann Urban Kym then founded the Riburg saltworks near his home community Möhlin in 1848. The five boiling pans of the Kaiseraugst saltworks were then moved to the Riburg saltworks. In 1865 the saltworks was reopened by the newly founded "Neue Saline Kaiseraugst AG" with two newly purchased simmering pans. After the merger to form the Vereinigte Schweizer Rheinsalinen AG, the saltworks finally fell victim to the reservoir of the Augst-Wyhlen power plant.
Salt shelf and concordat agreement
All Swiss cantons have the salt shelf , the monopoly on the salt trade within the canton. All products with a salt content of over 30% and solutions with a salt content of over 18% are affected by the salt shelf. Due to the salt shelf, all salty products, similar to petrol , can be taxed by the canton. This salt shelf is now delegated by all cantons to the Swiss salt works through the intercantonal agreement on the sale of salt in Switzerland of November 22, 1973; the canton of Vaud became the last canton to join the contract in 2014. You are the only company that is allowed to trade in salt in Switzerland. The Swiss salt works also collect taxes on behalf of the cantons. In 1990 the Principality of Liechtenstein also joined the treaty. With Liechtenstein's accession to the European Economic Area , the small state takes on a special role: Here, the salt shelf and the European internal market coexist.
The salt shelf has recently come under increasing criticism, especially from communities that have to pay for the de-icing salt . The reasons for this are the higher costs for de-icing salt than abroad and the delivery bottlenecks in the winters of 1999 and 2003, when the Swiss Rhine saltworks at that time had to import salt from abroad themselves in order to meet Switzerland's de-icing salt requirements. The federal government could achieve an abolition by reformulating Article 94 of the Federal Constitution ; however, the cantons could voluntarily waive the monopoly. However, as shareholders of the Swiss salt works and through the tax revenue, the cantons show no interest in renouncing the monopoly.
The advantages of the salt shelf are that all regions and areas receive their salt at the same price and under the same conditions. In connection with the supply and storage obligation, the rapid availability of de-icing salt is guaranteed at all times, especially in winter services, even in peripheral regions. The cantons also benefit from the additional source of income.
Salt extraction process
.JPG)
→ Main articles: Solende salt production and evaporated salt works
The Swiss salt pans only have boiling salt pans that use brine extraction. Fresh water is pumped through a borehole into the salt store. The water forms a funnel-shaped cavern made of brine underground . As soon as the brine is sufficiently saturated, it is pumped out again through a second tube in the borehole. Over the course of the day, the brine is cleaned in the salt pans and the salt crystallizes out by evaporation of the brine. In contrast to the drilling rigs of earlier times, today's boreholes are disguised as rather inconspicuous houses, which are connected to the salt pans by pipelines. There are numerous houses between Rheinfelden and Möhlin, for example.
Significance for Northwestern Switzerland
Northwestern Switzerland also achieved an economic upturn thanks to the salt pans. Shortly after the founding of the Schweizerhalle saltworks, numerous chemical industrial companies settled around the saltworks, which needed salt as a raw material and raw material for their products. The chemical industry, which is now slowly being replaced by the pharmaceutical industry, made the Schweizerhalle area one of the largest and most important industrial areas in Switzerland. With the switch from the chemical to the pharmaceutical industry , salt is becoming less important, but salt is also used in the manufacture of medicines.
Furthermore, the Riburg salt works and the former Rheinfelden salt works are of great importance for the city of Rheinfelden. Through them, Rheinfelden developed into a world-famous health resort until the First World War brought tourism and the spa industry to collapse in Rheinfelden as well. The old “Kurpark” on the Rhine (once reserved for wealthy guests) and the “Hôtel des Salines”, founded in 1868, opened in 1871, listed as a historical monument, but completely burned down in 1981, bear witness to this era. Today tourism is gaining in importance again, especially due to the renovation of the spa center and the wellness boom , more and more hotel and day guests are coming to Rheinfelden.
As a symbol of the important influence of the salt industry, there are still old, wooden salt drilling rigs on the level in front of the Schweizerhalle, in Riburg and in the Rheinfelden spa gardens .
Products
The table salt from the Swiss saltworks is known in Switzerland primarily under the brands JuraSel and Sel des Âlpes. The table salt content is around 9% of total production. In winter, the Swiss salt pans ensure the need for de-icing salts , which make up a share of 20% to 45%. In some cases, before table and road salt, commercial and industrial salts make up a share of 20% to 25%. Industrial salts are mainly used in the chemical industry . The splitting of salt into chlorine and sodium is the basis of numerous products such as dyes , glass , cleaning agents , baking powder and medicines .
Other products from the Swiss saltworks are agricultural salts ( 5%), regeneration salts ( known as ReoSal, 8%), pharmaceutical salts and bath salts (3%). In addition, fresh brine from the ground is supplied to the brine baths in Rheinfelden and the Laguna in Weil am Rhein ( Germany ).
literature
- Karl Schib : History of the city of Rheinfelden. 1961.
- Karl Schib: History of the community Möhlin. 1985.
- Swiss saltworks in the Rhine: 200 million years of salt. circa 1980.
Web links
- Website of the Swiss saltworks
- A wooden dome for the winter salt (to the Saldome and the salt shelf) , Tages-Anzeiger dated August 17, 2005
- Declaration of the Salinen Bex to the salt monopoly.
- Article of the municipality Möhlin on the salt pans
- Zeit -frage from October 23, 2018: Indispensable white gold - the tried and tested Swiss salt supply system
Individual evidence
- ↑ Submission by the district administrator of the Canton of Basel-Landschaft, see Section 5, "Carl Christian Friedrich Glenck and the name Schweizerhalle"
- ↑ Timeline from rheinsalinen.ch see year 1843
- ↑ Timeline of rheinsalinen.ch , see 1844
- ↑ Timeline of rheinsalinen.ch, see 1846
- ↑ Timeline of rheinsalinen.ch, see 1848
- ↑ Timeline of rheinsalinen.ch, see 1871
- ↑ Timeline of rheinsalinen.ch, see 1874
- ↑ a b timeline from rheinsalinen.ch, see year 1909
- ↑ Timeline from rheinsalinen.ch, see year 1925
- ↑ Timeline from rheinsalinen.ch, see year 1941
- ↑ Timeline of rheinsalinen.ch, see 1942
- ↑ a b Intercantonal agreement on the sale of salt in Switzerland of November 22, 1973 (PDF; 13 kB)
- ↑ Timeline of rheinsalinen.ch, see 1975
- ↑ Jonas Keller: Fluoride: How Dangerous Is It Really? In: observer.ch . August 16, 2019, accessed August 24, 2019 .
- ↑ a b timeline from rheinsalinen.ch, see year 1995
- ↑ Information from Saline Bex on the salt shelf
- ↑ Information from the Swiss Rhine Saltworks on the salt shelf ( memento of the original from September 1, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Report of the Tagesanzeiger on the salt shelf.
- ↑ Timeline of the municipality of Pratteln, ( memento of the original from June 23, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. see year 1837
- ↑ Article by the municipality of Möhlin on the salt pans ( Memento of the original from April 11, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , see section 5
- ↑ Graphic on sales of the various products. (PDF; 125 kB)
