| Marl Chemical Park Chemiepark Marl | |
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| Built | 1938 |
| Location | Marl, North Rhine-Westphalia |
| Coordinates | 51°40′59″N7°05′49″E / 51.683°N 7.097°E /51.683; 7.097 |
| Industry | Chemical industry |
| Products | Specialty chemicals Fine chemicals |
| Employees | 10,000[1] |
| Buildings | 900[1] |
| Area | 650hectares[2] |
| Address | Paul-Baumann-Straße 1, 45772 Marl, Germany |
| Owner(s) | Infracor GmbH Evonik Industries AG |
Marl Chemical Park (German:Chemiepark Marl) is anindustrial park inMarl, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is the third largestindustrial cluster in Germany and among the largestchemical production facilities in Europe. The site occupies over 6 square kilometers, hosts 100chemical plants, employs 10,000 people, and produces 4 million metric tons of chemicals annually. 18 companies are based in the Park, including primary tenantEvonik Industries AG, which also owns and operates the infrastructure through its subsidiary Infracor GmbH.
Originally namedChemische Werke Hüls, the complex was built in 1938 by a consortium led byIG Farben to producesynthetic rubber and otherwar materials for theThird Reich. By 1942 over 5000 workers' families had relocated into new housing which transformed Marl into acompany town. At the height ofWorld War II, the Germans also usedslave laborers andprisoners of war at the plant.Allied bombing heavily damaged the site in mid-1943 although full production had resumed by 1944. Near the end of the war, employees saved the plant from complete destruction under Hitler'sNero Decree and the US Army occupied it in March, 1945.
After the war, the plant operated under restrictions imposed by theAllied Control Council and by 1953 turned over to new German owners. New products such as plastics andintermediate chemicals began to be produced. Coal-mining conglomerateRAG AG became majority owner in 2007 and created a new entity Evonik Industries, with a focus onspecialty andfine chemicals. In 2009, Marl Chemical Park received its current name. In 2012 a fire halted production ofcyclododecatriene (CDT) for several months. The plant manufactures a substantial proportion of the world supply of CDT, a precursor toNylon 12, which in turn led to a shortage which impacted global production of finished goods particularly in the automotive industry.
Marl Chemical Park is an anchor point on the RuhrIndustrial Heritage Trail and can be visited.
Marl Chemical Park is located on the northern edge of theRuhr area in the southern foothills of theMünster region. Both theLippe River andWesel-Datteln Canal run through the northern part of the site. To the south isBundesautobahn 52 with a connection toBundesautobahn 43. In addition to freight rail links withDeutsche Bahn, an alternative connection leads to theGelsenkirchen-Buer Nord–Marl Lippe railway. The nationalEthene Pipeline System running fromGelsenkirchen toWilhelmshaven travels through the site, and theRhine-Ruhr Hydrogen Pipeline is owned and operated from the site.
Including Evonik, Marl Chemical Park hosts 18 companies and 100 production plants in over 900 buildings operating through a shared infrastructure.[1][2] It is the third largestintegrated industrial park, known as aVerbund site, in Germany.[3] It is also the largest filling center forhydrogen in Europe.[4] Shared services include:
In 1936, theNazi government launched aFour Year Plan which identified strategic materials critical toGerman rearmament, with a goal to make Germany self-sufficient in preparation for war. Replacingnatural rubber withsynthetic rubber in the manufacture oftires andcontinuous track for theWehrmacht became a priority. The solution wasBuna-S, a polymer derived from coal, initially developed byBayer in 1928 and first manufactured commercially by parent companyIG Farben in 1937. Prior toWorld War II Germany had become the world leader in the development of synthetic rubber technology.[6]
To build a plant needed for mass production of Buna-S, a new companyChemische Werke Hüls GmbH was created as a joint venture between majority owner IG Farben and coal-mining companyHibernia AG, a subsidiary ofPrussian state-owned holding companyVEBA AG. The plant would use a newelectric arc manufacturing method developed in a research alliance with American companyStandard Oil of New Jersey in 1935. IG Farben provided patents to the joint venture free of charge, and in return the joint venture was to provide IG Farben all new developments in the technology and proceeds of future sales.[7]
The factory site, adjacent to theAugust-Victoria coal mine at Hüls near the village of Marl, was strategically located on the northern edge of theRuhr industrial basin along theWesel-Datteln Canal. The Hiberniacoking andhydrogenation plants inScholven, recently completed in 1936, were to the southwest. This created a highly efficient production cycle wherein exhaust gases from Hibernia were piped to Hüls, which were converted intoacetylene andethylene using the electric arc process. Acetylene was then used to makebutadiene into buna, while ethylene was processed viaethylene oxide intoantifreeze and other products. The excess hydrogen produced was returned to Hibernia to makesynthetic gasoline fromcoal liquefaction. The Hüls factory complex was inaugurated on May 9, 1938.[8]
Managers and foremen were relocated to Marl exclusively from other IG Farben plants across Germany, such asLudwigshafen am Rhein,Schkopau andLeverkusen, while skilled workers came from the surrounding Münster area. Housing became critical and workers lived in temporary camps as new homes were built south of the plant. The neighborhood, known as theBereitsschaftssiedlung (literally "standby settlement"), was built by IG Farben architectClemens Anders in the traditionalistStuttgart school style favored in the Third Reich. From 1938 to 1942, more than 5,000 employees and their families moved in, transforming Marl into acompany town. AFeierabendhaus (social center) was built in 1940 with a company restaurant, cinema, theater, and training school forNational Socialist concepts.Robert Ley, director of theGerman Labor Front, laid the foundation stone.[9]
At the outbreak of war, the plant was still being fitted for full production and the first commercial buna bales were delivered on August 29, 1940.[10] By 1942 the plant was producing 50,000 tons of Buna-S annually along with chlorine,solvents, softening agents,resins and other chemicals needed for the war effort.[11] In addition to the 5000 German employees,[7] between 10,000-15,000prisoners of war andforced laborers were locked up in 30 camps around Marl to provide workers for the plant and mines which supplied it. Records from 1944 show a special prison camp on the company site controlled by theGestapo, and Polish workers transferred between Hüls and theBuna plant at Auschwitz.[9]
The effects of war reached Hüls in mid-1943. Raw materials had become increasingly difficult to obtain and the plants were targeted byallied bombing. On June 11, a heavy daylight raid dropped 1,560 bombs which killed 186 people and wounded 752.[11] Another raid by theUSAAF100th bomber group was carried out on June 22 from 25,000 ft.[12] The site was attacked again in daylight by 235 bombers from the USAAF on June 25, with 16 bombers lost. These raids halted all production for three months. More heavy bombing targeted the Hibernia hydrogenation plants to stop the flow of raw materials, however the Hüls works managed to reach maximum output again by 1944.[11]
On March 29, 1945 aGerman Army special unit appeared with orders under Hitler'sNero Decree to destroy everything in Hüls. Plant employees and particularly plant directorPaul Baumann persuaded the unit to disobey the orders and protect the plant until the arrival of the Americans.[11] TheUnited States 8th Armored Division occupied the factories on March 31, 1945. At the end of the war, the worker population had dropped from over 10,000 to about 500.[13]
Immediately after the war, the site was placed under British administration. On the breakup of ownerIG Farben, theAllies initially placed tight limits on what could be produced and had plans to dismantle the plant, although rubber shortages in Europe soon meant that great efforts were made to restart buna production. By 1949, the company recognized their existing synthetic rubber production methods were not competitive in world markets and Americandevelopment aid became critical in re-establishing the plant's former importance.[6] In 1953, the works were released from Allied control and ownership converted into a stock corporation.[13] The complex was namedChemische Werke Hüls AG and began manufacturing plastics, raw materials for detergents and a new synthetic rubber process developed by the Americans.[6]
During theWirtschaftswunder, the chemical works were continuously redeveloped with new product lines under the management of VEBA AG.[14] In 1985, the company began trading under the name Hüls AG and had moved away from basic industries towards more complex chemicals. Hüls AG and Degussa AG merged in 1999 to form Degussa-Hüls, and in 2001 Degussa-Hüls and SKW Trostberg AG merged to form the new Degussa AG, the third largest chemical group in Germany.[15]
In 2006, Essen-based coal mining conglomerateRAG AG took a controlling interest in the plant. The chemicals, energy and real estate business of RAG were then combined to form a new industrial groupEvonik Industries. In 2009, Evonik repositioned itself entirely into specialty chemicals and became owner/operator of the newly named Marl Chemical Park through its subsidiarity Infracor GmbH. Today, in addition to Evonik and its affiliates, 17 other companies are based in the Park.
Companies independent of Evonik[16]
Marls Chemical Park produces 4 millionmetric tons of chemicals annually. More than 4,000 chemical products are manufactured, the largest quantities being:
The chemical industry in Germany and Austria jointly maintain theTransport-Unfall-Informations- und Hilfeleistungssystem, acronym TUIS (English: Transport Accident Information and Assistance System). Experts can be reached by phone around the clock to provide information on how to handle chemicals in the event of a transport accident. The Marl Chemical Park fire brigade is one of the ten nationwide TUIS emergency call centers and also provides vehicles and equipment.
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