Marl Chemical Park

Marl Chemical Park () is an industrial park in Marl, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is the third largest industrial cluster in Germany and among the largest chemical production facilities in Europe. The site occupies over 6 square kilometers, hosts 100 chemical plants, employs 10,000 people, and produces 4 million metric tons of chemicals annually. 18 companies are based in the Park, including primary tenant Evonik Industries AG, which also owns and operates the infrastructure through its subsidiary Infracor GmbH.
Originally named Chemische Werke Hüls, the complex was built in 1938 by a consortium led by IG Farben to produce synthetic rubber and other war materials for the Third Reich. By 1942 over 5000 workers' families had relocated into new housing which transformed Marl into a company town. At the height of World War II, the Germans also used slave laborers and prisoners 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's Nero Decree and the US Army occupied it in March, 1945.
After the war, the plant operated under restrictions imposed by the Allied Control Council and by 1953 turned over to new German owners. New products such as plastics and intermediate chemicals began to be produced. Coal-mining conglomerate RAG AG became majority owner in 2007 and created a new entity Evonik Industries, with a focus on specialty and fine chemicals. In 2009, Marl Chemical Park received its current name. In 2012 a fire halted production of cyclododecatriene (CDT) for several months. The plant manufactures a substantial proportion of the world supply of CDT, a precursor to Nylon 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 Ruhr Industrial Heritage Trail and can be visited.
Location.
Marl Chemical Park is located on the northern edge of the Ruhr area in the southern foothills of the Münster region. Both the Lippe River and Wesel-Datteln Canal run through the northern part of the site. To the south is Bundesautobahn 52 with a connection to Bundesautobahn 43. In addition to freight rail links with Deutsche Bahn, an alternative connection leads to the Gelsenkirchen-Buer Nord–Marl Lippe railway. The national running from Gelsenkirchen to Wilhelmshaven travels through the site, and the is owned and operated from the site.
Facilities.
Including Evonik, Marl Chemical Park hosts 18 companies and 100 production plants in over 900 buildings operating through a shared infrastructure. It is the third largest integrated industrial park, known as a "Verbund" site, in Germany. It is also the largest filling center for hydrogen in Europe. Shared services include:
History.
Construction.
In 1936, the Nazi government launched a Four Year Plan which identified strategic materials critical to German rearmament, with a goal to make Germany self-sufficient in preparation for war. Replacing natural rubber with synthetic rubber in the manufacture of tires and continuous track for the Wehrmacht became a priority. The solution was Buna-S, a polymer derived from coal, initially developed by Bayer in 1928 and first manufactured commercially by parent company IG Farben in 1937. Prior to World War II Germany had become the world leader in the development of synthetic rubber technology.
To build a plant needed for mass production of Buna-S, a new company "Chemische Werke Hüls GmbH" was created as a joint venture between majority owner IG Farben and coal-mining company Hibernia AG, a subsidiary of Prussian state-owned holding company VEBA AG. The plant would use a new electric arc manufacturing method developed in a research alliance with American company Standard 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.
The factory site, adjacent to the "August-Victoria" coal mine at Hüls near the village of Marl, was strategically located on the northern edge of the Ruhr industrial basin along the Wesel-Datteln Canal. The Hibernia coking and hydrogenation plants in Scholven, 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 into acetylene and ethylene using the electric arc process. Acetylene was then used to make butadiene into buna, while ethylene was processed via ethylene oxide into antifreeze and other products. The excess hydrogen produced was returned to Hibernia to make synthetic gasoline from coal liquefaction. The Hüls factory complex was inaugurated on May 9, 1938. 
Managers and foremen were relocated to Marl exclusively from other IG Farben plants across Germany, such as Ludwigshafen am Rhein, Schkopau and Leverkusen, 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 the "Bereitsschaftssiedlung" (literally "standby settlement"), was built by IG Farben architect Clemens Anders in the traditionalist Stuttgart school style favored in the Third Reich. From 1938 to 1942, more than 5,000 employees and their families moved in, transforming Marl into a company town. A "Feierabendhaus" (social center) was built in 1940 with a company restaurant, cinema, theater, and training school for National Socialist concepts. Robert Ley, director of the German Labor Front, laid the foundation stone.
World War II.
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. 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. In addition to the 5000 German employees, between 10,000-15,000 prisoners of war and forced 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 the Gestapo, and Polish workers transferred between Hüls and the Buna plant at Auschwitz. 
The effects of war reached Hüls in mid-1943. Raw materials had become increasingly difficult to obtain and the plants were targeted by allied bombing. On June 11, a heavy daylight raid dropped 1,560 bombs which killed 186 people and wounded 752. Another raid by the USAAF 100th bomber group was carried out on June 22 from 25,000 ft. 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.
On March 29, 1945 a German Army special unit appeared with orders under Hitler's Nero Decree to destroy everything in Hüls. Plant employees and particularly plant director Paul Baumann persuaded the unit to disobey the orders and protect the plant until the arrival of the Americans. The United 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.
Postwar.
Immediately after the war, the site was placed under British administration. On the breakup of owner IG Farben, the Allies 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 American development aid became critical in re-establishing the plant's former importance. In 1953, the works were released from Allied control and ownership converted into a stock corporation. The complex was named "Chemische Werke Hüls AG" and began manufacturing plastics, raw materials for detergents and a new synthetic rubber process developed by the Americans.
During the Wirtschaftswunder, the chemical works were continuously redeveloped with new product lines under the management of VEBA AG. 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.
Recent.
In 2006, Essen-based coal mining conglomerate RAG 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 group Evonik 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.
Resident companies.
Companies independent of Evonik
Products.
Marls Chemical Park produces 4 million metric tons of chemicals annually. More than 4,000 chemical products are manufactured, the largest quantities being:
Emergency management.
The chemical industry in Germany and Austria jointly maintain the "Transport-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.