Marl Chemical Park (German: Chemiepark Marl) 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 Ethene Pipeline System running from Gelsenkirchen to Wilhelmshaven travels through the site, and the Rhine-Ruhr Hydrogen Pipeline 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:
Energy cogeneration: two gas-fired power plants and one coal-fired power station provide 300MW of electrical power in different voltages (110kV, 10kV, 6kV, 500V and 400/230V) and 1000 tons of steam per hour in various pressures (4, 20, 70 and 120 bar). In 2019 construction began on a replacement of the coal station with a new 180MW natural gas facility, to be opened in 2022. Street grid: 55 km long and numbered east–west (100, 200, 1200) and south–north (20, 40, 60), giving buildings unique numbers that indicate their position in the facility (i.e. building 145 is near the intersection of streets 100 and 40). Raw materials: via pipeline, rail, truck and ship, such as ethylene, propene, C4 hydrocarbons, benzene, methanol, brine and natural gas. This includes storage areas, high rack and tank storage facilities. Air separation plant: generates liquefied argon and other gases based on the Linde process. Internal pipeline network: 1200 km long on 30 km of pipeline bridges transporting reaction intermediates, end products, and various gases including hydrogen, nitrogen, and oxygen. Industrial railway: 100 km-long and freight station with two connections to the Deutsche Bahn, in one of the largest private electronically monitored train stations in Europe. Wastewater system: 70 km long sewer network separated into rain/cooling and dark water channels, processed by two sewage treatment plants before reaching the Lippe River. On the north end of the site is a sludge incineration plant. Fire department: handling hazardous materials, industrial fires and other emergencies.
History
Construction
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