Leuna works
[1][2] The site, now owned jointly by companies such as TotalEnergies, BASF, Linde plc, and DOMO Group, covers 13 km2 and produces a very wide range of chemicals and plastics.
The increasing demand for explosives during World War I exceeded the ammonia production capacities of the Oppau works of BASF, who owned the patents for the Haber process.
Leuna in central Germany, out of range of French aircraft, was selected as the location of a second plant[3] named Badische Anilin- und Sodafabrik, Ammoniakwerk Merseburg.
[5] The synthesis of petrol, although expensive compared to world market prices, was pursued in order to reduce Germany's dependency on imported oil products.
Leuna had been the first plant to test the Bergius process, which synthesized oil products from lignite, but switched to brown coal tar in 1944, due to air raid damages.
[citation needed] The 14th Flak Division responsible for protecting Leuna had 28,000 troops, 18,000 RAD personnel, 6,000 male and 3,050 female auxiliaries, 900 Hungarian and Italian 'volunteers', 3,600 Russian Hiwis, and 3,000 others, thus making up a total of 62,550 persons.
[8] More than 19,000 of Leuna's workers were members of the air raid protection organization which operated over 600 radar-directed guns, while the fire-fighting force consisted of 5,000 men and women.
In 1954 the works were transferred into public property and became known as "VEB Leuna-Werke Walter Ulbricht", the largest chemical production site in the German Democratic Republic.
New, more sophisticated cracking plants were imported from the Federal Republic of Germany, from Japan, Austria, and Sweden, and were operated with modern distributed control systems originating in the FRG and the United States.
After German reunification in 1990, the Leuna works were divided into several smaller units that were sold to several companies, among them Total S.A., BASF, Linde AG, and Belgian DOMO Group.
[12] QUINN Chemicals invested in a plant to manufacture methyl methacrylate (MMA) but construction has halted as of January 2009 due to heavy cost overruns.
