Chemische Fabrik Kalk
Encyclopedia
Chemische Fabrik Kalk (lit. Chemical Factory Kalk) was a German
chemicals company based in Kalk, a city district of Cologne
. The company was founded in 1858 as Chemische Fabrik Vorster & Grüneberg, Cöln by Julius Vorster and Hermann Julius Grüneberg
and was renamed to Chemische Fabrik Kalk GmbH in 1892. At times the company was the second-largest German producer of soda ash
and was with almost 2400 employees one of the largest employers in Cologne. For decades the chimneys and the water tower of the factory dominated the skyline of Cologne-Kalk.
In 1960 the company was acquired by the Salzdetfurth AG
, which was later renamed into Kali und Salz (nowadays K+S
) and became a subsidiary of BASF
. All production facilities of the former Chemische Fabrik Kalk were closed in 1993, and the name Chemische Fabrik Kalk since then exists only as the name of a wholesale subsidiary of K+S. The factory was demolished and after the decontamination of the premises the new Cologne police departments headquarters and the Köln Arcaden shopping mall were built on the former factory premises.
, who was a doctoral student at that time, founded the Chemische Fabrik Vorster & Grüneberg, Cöln. Vorster, who had owned a chemical factory before, contributed 15,000 Thaler
and Grüneberg contributed 5,000 Thaler. As a location for the new factory they chose what was then the small village of Kalk (incorporated into Cologne
in 1910) on the right bank of the Rhine. After purchasing the premises of the former iron foundry Biber & Berger construction began and three months later, in February 1859 production started. The factory produced potassium nitrate
and as a byproduct sodium carbonate
(also known as soda ash). Potassium nitrate was used in food preservation and in the production of black powder. The potassium nitrate
was produced from Russian potash
and nitratine
. From 1859 to 1864 production of potassium nitrate increased from 250 metric tons (275.6 ST) to 2400 metric tons (2,645.5 ST). In the first year the factory employeed ten workers.
As the new company flourished several adjacent lots were purchased in 1860 to expand the production facilities and to maintain the regional market leadership in potassium nitrate. With prices for Russian potash increasing, the factory began to use a by-product of the sugar production from sugar beet
. In 1860 the factory also began to produce sodium chloride
, which was crystallized from rock salt
.
To secure a supply of rock salt the factory founders Vorster and Grüneberg acquired an salt mine
in Staßfurt
near Magdeburg
. The area was known for its deposits of a double salt
, a compound of potassium chloride
and magnesium chloride
named carnallite
after its discoverer, the Prussian mining engineer Rudolf von Carnall. The new salt mine Vorster & Grüneberg was rich in deposits of carnallite. Grüneberg developed a new chemical process to produce potassium chloride from carnallite. Initially the carnallite was transported from Staßfurt to Kalk where it was dissolved in a current of stream and after cooling down the carnallite crystallized to obtain potassium chloride. To reduce transport costs the two founders decided to build two potassium chloride factories in Staßfurt and Leopoldshall where they had acquired a second salt mine.
In 1860 Grüneberg finished his doctoral studies and received a Ph.D. from the University of Leipzig
. His research was in the field of agricultural chemistry
, in particular mineral fertilizers. In 1864 the factory began the production of the fertilizer superphosphate, produced from phosphorite
from a newly acquired mine in Nassau an der Lahn
. One year later the production of the fertilizer ammonium sulfate
begins. In 1866 the factory begins to use the Leblanc process
to produce potassium carbonate from sodium chloride. During the Centennial Exposition
in Philadelphia in 1876, the company was awarded a gold medal for having first manufactured Potash and Potash salts, according to Leblanc's process, on a manufacturing scale , and for the purity of the products exhibited.
The company continued to expand, with a factory producing ammonium sulfate opening in 1865 in Raderberg near Cologne (incorporated into Cologne in 1888). This factory produced the ammonium sulfate from ammonia
and sulfuric acid
, the latter a waste product of the production of town gas
. As the new factory was highly profitable, Vorster & Grüneberg openend new ammonium sulfate factories in Nippes, Cologne
(incorporated into Cologne in 1888), Düsseldorf
, Essen
, Dortmund
, Hamburg
, Leipzig
and Saint Petersburg
and an ammonium chloride
factory in Moscow
.
In 1867 the company incurred financial losses from a bad investment in the United Kingdom and declining demand for its products. In the same year Julius Vorster Jr., the son of the founder Julius Vorster, became involved in the management of the company. On his recommendation the company began to produce magnesium sulfate
in order to reduce the losses. Magnesium sulfate was primarily intended for the export to the United Kingdom, where it was used as a drying agent in the textile industry. The new product and an improving market for potassium nitrate
helped the company to overcome the financial crisis in 1870. In 1871 the potassium chloride factory in Staßfurt was closed. On October 1, 1875 the second son of Vorster, the chemist Fritz Vorster joined the company as technical director. After the death of the founder Julius Vorster on October 10, 1876, the new owners converted the company into a limited partnership
(Kommanditgesellschaft
).
In 1878 Carl Scheibler became the head of the fertilizer department. Scheibler introduced an inexpensive fertilizer known as Thomas phospate. This fertilizer was based on Thomas slag, named after Sidney Gilchrist Thomas
. This new, inexpensive fertilizer allowed even poor farmers to fertilize their fields. At the same time municipalities began to use the waste products of the production of town gas
for themselves or were selling them for profits, forcing Vorster & Grüneberg to gradually close their ammonium sulfate factories at other locations over the next fifteen years. In contrast, the factory in Kalk continued its expansion with new production facilities for sulfuric acid and nitric acid
opening in 1881. In 1885 Carl Scheibler founded his own company, Düngerfabrik C. Scheibler & Co, with the participation of the owners of Vorster & Grüneberg. This company produced Thomas phospate and other fertilizers in domestic and international production facilities.
(GmbH
). It was one of the first limited liabilities companies in the German Empire as the law on companies with limited liabilities was adopted only one month earlier. On June 7, 1894 the last surviving founder Hermann Julius Grüneberg dies. His son Richard Grüneberg succeeds him and joins the management board of the company. After 1900 the production of potassium carbonate ceased due to competitive pressure. Instead, the company began to produce sodium carbonate using the Solvay process
. In 1902 the Düngerfabrik C. Scheibler & Co. was incorporated, and a year later the last remaining factory in the Staßburg region, the potassium chloride factory in Leopolshall was sold. To guarantee the water supply in the main factory in Kalk a water tower with an integrted chimney and a height of 43.6 metres (143 ft) was built. This water tower should dominate the skyline of Kalk for the next one hundred years.
At the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the company on November 1, 1908 the Chemische Fabrik Kalk produced the following chemicals: ammonium hydroxide
, ammonium chloride, ammonia, sodium hydroxide, sodium sulfate
, nitric acid, hydrochloric acid
, sulfuric acid, sodium carbonate and various fertilizers. Apart from the main factory in Kalk the company operated an ammonia factory in Cologne-Nippes and fertilizer factories in Cologne-Ehrenfeld and Euskirchen
. The company was also one of the owners of the coal istillation plant Ammonium GmbH in Weitmar near Bochum
and held interests in domestic and international Thomas steel mills producing slag. Total production of all chemicals combined was 600000 metric tons (661,386.8 ST). In 1908 the company employed more than 1200 workers.
With the outbreak of World War I
employment fell to 70 workers and parts of production were shut down, as the company was not producing essential chemicals for the war economy. Management then concentrated on the production of saltpeter
, a raw material for explosives. Due to the importance of the chemical the workfore increased to 504 employees in December 1914. In 1916 an explosives research laboratory was created, and a short time afterwards the first explosive agent was developed. Despite the lack of workers the company also expanded into the new market for animal food by treating straw with sodium hydroxide.
After the end of the war the treaty of Versailles
forced Chemische Werke Kalk to end the production of explosives and close the research laboratory. In the 1920s demand for fertilizers slowly increased, but was accompanied by an increase in prices for raw materials. To mitigate the effect of the price increases the company began to produce a fertilizer based on ammonium nitrate and calcium carbonate
, two by-products of the production of other fertilizers. In 1930 Scheibler’s Kampdünger (Kamp standing for Kalk-Ammon-Phospor, i.e. lime
-ammonium
-phosphorus
and Dünger being the German word for fertilizer) was introduced, a two-component fertilizer that was readily accepted by the market. The company management at this time considered moving the factory from Kalk to Godorf in Rodenkirchen
as the high population density made expansion of the factory difficult. Ultimately this plan was not implemented.
After the Hitler's rise to power in 1933 the company gradually began to concentrate on raw materials for the production of explosives. Since 1937 women were employed as workers. After the outbreak of World War II
, with the maleworkforce in military service, women were conscripted for work at the company. Since 1940 Chemische Fabrik Kalk used approximately 460 forced laborers from Poland and later the Soviet Union. The factory was heavily damaged during the bombing raids
which started in 1942. In 1943 the sulfuric acid plant was completely destroyed, a year later almost all of the production came to a standstill. On March 6, 1945 the grandson of the founder, Fritz Vorster Jr. closed the factory after 80 percent of the production facilities had been destroyed. At this time the company had only 100 employees.
for the purpose of bartering. Workers returning from war captivity cannibalized some sections of the plant to repair other sections. Some equipment and tools that were removed from the factory before the bombing raids were returned. In March 1946 the production of ammonium sulfate resumed. In 1947 large parts of the factory were rebuilt and in the summer of 1948 production of susperphospate in September 1948 production of Kampdünger resumed. As potash was added to the Kampdünger it was sold as KAMPKA-Dünger (the ending KA standing for Kalisalz, the German word for potash). In 1950 the production of the company had reached the old pre-war production level and the company had a market share of 20 percent of the German market for sodium carbonate, although it decreased to 13 percent one year later. During this time the management again considered a move of the factory from Kalk to Godorf, but after a study concluded that a moving the factory would be more costly than staying in Kalk the already purchased land in Godorf was sold. In 1952 the Salzdetfurth AG
acquired a 25 percent share of Chemische Fabrik Kalk and increased the share to 75 percent in 1957.
At the centennial anniversary of the founding of the company on November 1, 1958 the company employed 1820 workers and 549 salaried professionals. A new production facility for phosphate
s was opened in 1960. In the same year the factory produced 417000 metric tons (459,663.8 ST) of KAMPKA fertilizer and 170000 metric tons (187,392.9 ST) of sodium carbonate. In 1960 the Salzdetfurth AG acquired the remaining 25 percent of Chemische Fabrik Kalk. After the takeover the Salzdetfurth AG began to modernize the production facilities and build for example a new, 120 metres (393.7 ft) tall chimney that helped alleviate the odor pollution from sulfurous exhaust fumes. In the mid 1960s the fillings and loading plants were converted to fully automated operation. Despite these modernizations the factory equipment, in particular the sodium carbonate production facilities were outdated. The company also lacked new products that would have allowed the company to enter new markets.
In 1971 the Salzdetfurth AG merged with the BASF
subsidiary Wintershall
and the Burbach-Kaliwerke AG. One year later the Salzdetfurth AG and Burbach-Kaliwerke AG and the sodium carbonate production facilities of Wintershall were merged into the new Kali und Salz AG
. Under the new ownership Chemische Fabrik Kalk expanded into the production of flower and garden fertilizers. In 1974 the factory had 1800 employees, had a revenue of 400 million DM and was active in the production of sodium carbonate, calcium chloride
, fine chemicals
, phosphate for animal feed and fertilizers.
In the early 1980s the factory tried to enter new markets with the production of bromine
, but closed production after a fire destroyed the production facility only two weeks after completion in 1985. Due to increasing competition in the market for fertilizers and the lack of new products, company revenue fell from 570 million DM in 1985 to 370 million DM. The company posted increasing financial losses, partly due to its locational disadvantage as all raw materials and all final goods had to be transported by truck from the factory to Cologne's Rhine harbor. Another disadvantage was the location of the factory in a densely populated residential area and a decreasing acceptance of the pollution caused by the factory. Without operating profits a relocation of the factory was not feasible, and thus, without any prospects, the fertilizer production was shut down in 1989. Employment fell from 1400 employees in 1985 to 830 in 1990, with the factory only producing sodium carbonate, calcium chloride and phosphate for animal feed. Although losses were reduced to almost zero in 1990, the financial situation deteriorated in 1992 when the prices for sodium carbonate fell. The fall in prices was partly due to the lifting of anti-dumping on sodium carbonate imports from the American Natural Soda Ash Corporation (ANSAC) by the European Commission. Another factor in the worsening financial situation was an antitrust fine of US$1.38 million imposed by the European commission for participating in a sodium carbonate cartel together with Solvay
and Imperial Chemical Industries
. Company revenue fell to 225 million DM and losses increased to 9.6 million DM. On December 23, 1993 all remaining production was shut down and all remaining 700 workers were laid off. Since then Chemische Fabrik Kalk GmbH is the name of a wholesale distributor of chemicals and subsidiary of K+S AG (named Kali und Salz AG until 1999). Company revenue in 2007 was 7.86 million Euro
, down from 10.07 million Euro in 2004.
After the factory was closed all production facilities and factory buildings on the almost 40 hectares (98.8 acre) large premises were demolished. A small laboratory building and the water tower which had been listed as a historic landmark were preserved. The former office buildings on the southern side of the factory premises were sold. Equipment was sold to other factories, in for example Poland and Brazil. In October 1994 the tall chimney was blasted. The last building demolished was the fertilizer factory building dating from 1894 which is torn down in March 2001. As the premises were heavily contaminated with sulfur
and heavy metals they had to be decontaminated from 1996 to 2001. New streets and an access road to the Zoobrücke, a Rhine bridge were build. In 2003 the new Cologne police department headquarters were opened. In 2005 the Köln Arcaden shopping mall openend, with the parking garage build around the historic water tower. Plans to open a Chemische Fabrik Kalk museum in the water tower have not been realized. In April 2009 the science center Odysseum will open, which will be the largest science center in Germany. Other planned projects include residential and office buildings, retail space and an urban park. The former factory site is today known under the official name Cityforum Kalk, or abbreviated CFK.
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
chemicals company based in Kalk, a city district of Cologne
Cologne
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
. The company was founded in 1858 as Chemische Fabrik Vorster & Grüneberg, Cöln by Julius Vorster and Hermann Julius Grüneberg
Hermann Julius Grüneberg
Hermann Julius Grüneberg was a German chemist and inventor, and together with Julius Vorster the founder of the Chemische Fabrik Kalk.-Biography:...
and was renamed to Chemische Fabrik Kalk GmbH in 1892. At times the company was the second-largest German producer of soda ash
Sodium carbonate
Sodium carbonate , Na2CO3 is a sodium salt of carbonic acid. It most commonly occurs as a crystalline heptahydrate, which readily effloresces to form a white powder, the monohydrate. Sodium carbonate is domestically well-known for its everyday use as a water softener. It can be extracted from the...
and was with almost 2400 employees one of the largest employers in Cologne. For decades the chimneys and the water tower of the factory dominated the skyline of Cologne-Kalk.
In 1960 the company was acquired by the Salzdetfurth AG
K+S
K+S AG is a German-based agricultural chemical and salt company, headquartered in Kassel. The company is Europe's largest supplier of potash for use in fertilizer and, after the acquisition of Morton Salt, the world's largest salt producer...
, which was later renamed into Kali und Salz (nowadays K+S
K+S
K+S AG is a German-based agricultural chemical and salt company, headquartered in Kassel. The company is Europe's largest supplier of potash for use in fertilizer and, after the acquisition of Morton Salt, the world's largest salt producer...
) and became a subsidiary of BASF
BASF
BASF SE is the largest chemical company in the world and is headquartered in Germany. BASF originally stood for Badische Anilin- und Soda-Fabrik . Today, the four letters are a registered trademark and the company is listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, London Stock Exchange, and Zurich Stock...
. All production facilities of the former Chemische Fabrik Kalk were closed in 1993, and the name Chemische Fabrik Kalk since then exists only as the name of a wholesale subsidiary of K+S. The factory was demolished and after the decontamination of the premises the new Cologne police departments headquarters and the Köln Arcaden shopping mall were built on the former factory premises.
Chemiewerk Vorster & Grüneberg (1858–1891)
On November 1, 1858 the merchant Julius Vorster and the chemist and pharmacist Hermann Julius GrünebergHermann Julius Grüneberg
Hermann Julius Grüneberg was a German chemist and inventor, and together with Julius Vorster the founder of the Chemische Fabrik Kalk.-Biography:...
, who was a doctoral student at that time, founded the Chemische Fabrik Vorster & Grüneberg, Cöln. Vorster, who had owned a chemical factory before, contributed 15,000 Thaler
Vereinsthaler
The Vereinsthaler was a standard silver coin used in most German states and the Austrian Empire in the years prior to German unification.- Introduction :...
and Grüneberg contributed 5,000 Thaler. As a location for the new factory they chose what was then the small village of Kalk (incorporated into Cologne
Cologne
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
in 1910) on the right bank of the Rhine. After purchasing the premises of the former iron foundry Biber & Berger construction began and three months later, in February 1859 production started. The factory produced potassium nitrate
Potassium nitrate
Potassium nitrate is a chemical compound with the formula KNO3. It is an ionic salt of potassium ions K+ and nitrate ions NO3−.It occurs as a mineral niter and is a natural solid source of nitrogen. Its common names include saltpetre , from medieval Latin sal petræ: "stone salt" or possibly "Salt...
and as a byproduct sodium carbonate
Sodium carbonate
Sodium carbonate , Na2CO3 is a sodium salt of carbonic acid. It most commonly occurs as a crystalline heptahydrate, which readily effloresces to form a white powder, the monohydrate. Sodium carbonate is domestically well-known for its everyday use as a water softener. It can be extracted from the...
(also known as soda ash). Potassium nitrate was used in food preservation and in the production of black powder. The potassium nitrate
Potassium nitrate
Potassium nitrate is a chemical compound with the formula KNO3. It is an ionic salt of potassium ions K+ and nitrate ions NO3−.It occurs as a mineral niter and is a natural solid source of nitrogen. Its common names include saltpetre , from medieval Latin sal petræ: "stone salt" or possibly "Salt...
was produced from Russian potash
Potash
Potash is the common name for various mined and manufactured salts that contain potassium in water-soluble form. In some rare cases, potash can be formed with traces of organic materials such as plant remains, and this was the major historical source for it before the industrial era...
and nitratine
Nitratine
Nitratine or nitratite, also known as cubic niter , soda niter or Chile saltpeter , is a mineral, the naturally occurring form of sodium nitrate, NaNO3. Nitratine crystallizes in the trigonal system, but rarely occurs as well formed crystals. It is isostructural with calcite...
. From 1859 to 1864 production of potassium nitrate increased from 250 metric tons (275.6 ST) to 2400 metric tons (2,645.5 ST). In the first year the factory employeed ten workers.
Sugar beet
Sugar beet, a cultivated plant of Beta vulgaris, is a plant whose tuber contains a high concentration of sucrose. It is grown commercially for sugar production. Sugar beets and other B...
. In 1860 the factory also began to produce sodium chloride
Sodium chloride
Sodium chloride, also known as salt, common salt, table salt or halite, is an inorganic compound with the formula NaCl. Sodium chloride is the salt most responsible for the salinity of the ocean and of the extracellular fluid of many multicellular organisms...
, which was crystallized from rock salt
Halite
Halite , commonly known as rock salt, is the mineral form of sodium chloride . Halite forms isometric crystals. The mineral is typically colorless or white, but may also be light blue, dark blue, purple, pink, red, orange, yellow or gray depending on the amount and type of impurities...
.
To secure a supply of rock salt the factory founders Vorster and Grüneberg acquired an salt mine
Salt mine
A salt mine is a mining operation involved in the extraction of rock salt or halite from evaporite deposits.-Occurrence:Areas known for their salt mines include Kilroot near Carrickfergus, Northern Ireland ; Khewra and Warcha in Pakistan; Tuzla in Bosnia; Wieliczka and Bochnia in Poland A salt mine...
in Staßfurt
Staßfurt
Staßfurt is a town in the Salzlandkreis district, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is situated on both sides of the river Bode, approximately northeast of Aschersleben, and south of Magdeburg. Pop. 23,538....
near Magdeburg
Magdeburg
Magdeburg , is the largest city and the capital city of the Bundesland of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Magdeburg is situated on the Elbe River and was one of the most important medieval cities of Europe....
. The area was known for its deposits of a double salt
Double salt
Double salts are salts containing more than one cation or anion. They form when more than one salt is dissolved in a liquid and when together they crystallize in a regular pattern. A well-known double salt is alum containing two cations and a sulfate anion...
, a compound of potassium chloride
Potassium chloride
The chemical compound potassium chloride is a metal halide salt composed of potassium and chlorine. In its pure state, it is odorless and has a white or colorless vitreous crystal appearance, with a crystal structure that cleaves easily in three directions. Potassium chloride crystals are...
and magnesium chloride
Magnesium chloride
Magnesium chloride is the name for the chemical compounds with the formulas MgCl2 and its various hydrates MgCl2x. These salts are typical ionic halides, being highly soluble in water. The hydrated magnesium chloride can be extracted from brine or sea water...
named carnallite
Carnallite
Carnallite is an evaporite mineral, a hydrated potassium magnesium chloride with formula: KMgCl3·6. It is variably colored yellow to white, reddish, and sometimes colorless or blue. It is usually massive to fibrous with rare pseudohexagonal orthorhombic crystals...
after its discoverer, the Prussian mining engineer Rudolf von Carnall. The new salt mine Vorster & Grüneberg was rich in deposits of carnallite. Grüneberg developed a new chemical process to produce potassium chloride from carnallite. Initially the carnallite was transported from Staßfurt to Kalk where it was dissolved in a current of stream and after cooling down the carnallite crystallized to obtain potassium chloride. To reduce transport costs the two founders decided to build two potassium chloride factories in Staßfurt and Leopoldshall where they had acquired a second salt mine.
In 1860 Grüneberg finished his doctoral studies and received a Ph.D. from the University of Leipzig
University of Leipzig
The University of Leipzig , located in Leipzig in the Free State of Saxony, Germany, is one of the oldest universities in the world and the second-oldest university in Germany...
. His research was in the field of agricultural chemistry
Agricultural chemistry
Agricultural chemistry is the study of both chemistry and biochemistry which are important in agricultural production, the processing of raw products into foods and beverages, and in environmental monitoring and remediation...
, in particular mineral fertilizers. In 1864 the factory began the production of the fertilizer superphosphate, produced from phosphorite
Phosphorite
Phosphorite, phosphate rock or rock phosphate is a non-detrital sedimentary rock which contains high amounts of phosphate bearing minerals. The phosphate content of phosphorite is at least 15 to 20% which is a large enrichment over the typical sedimentary rock content of less than 0.2%...
from a newly acquired mine in Nassau an der Lahn
Nassau, Germany
Nassau is a town located in the German Land of Rhineland-Palatinate. It lies in the Lahn River valley between the cities of Bad Ems and Limburg an der Lahn. Nassau is the seat of the Verbandsgemeinde of Nassau. The town is on the German-Dutch holiday road, the Orange Route...
. One year later the production of the fertilizer ammonium sulfate
Ammonium sulfate
Ammonium sulfate , 2SO4, is an inorganic salt with a number of commercial uses. The most common use is as a soil fertilizer. It contains 21% nitrogen as ammonium cations, and 24% sulfur as sulfate anions...
begins. In 1866 the factory begins to use the Leblanc process
Leblanc process
The Leblanc process was the industrial process for the production of soda ash used throughout the 19th century, named after its inventor, Nicolas Leblanc. It involved two stages: Production of sodium sulfate from sodium chloride, followed by reaction of the sodium sulfate with coal and calcium...
to produce potassium carbonate from sodium chloride. During the Centennial Exposition
Centennial Exposition
The Centennial International Exhibition of 1876, the first official World's Fair in the United States, was held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from May 10 to November 10, 1876, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia. It was officially...
in Philadelphia in 1876, the company was awarded a gold medal for having first manufactured Potash and Potash salts, according to Leblanc's process, on a manufacturing scale , and for the purity of the products exhibited.
The company continued to expand, with a factory producing ammonium sulfate opening in 1865 in Raderberg near Cologne (incorporated into Cologne in 1888). This factory produced the ammonium sulfate from ammonia
Ammonia
Ammonia is a compound of nitrogen and hydrogen with the formula . It is a colourless gas with a characteristic pungent odour. Ammonia contributes significantly to the nutritional needs of terrestrial organisms by serving as a precursor to food and fertilizers. Ammonia, either directly or...
and sulfuric acid
Sulfuric acid
Sulfuric acid is a strong mineral acid with the molecular formula . Its historical name is oil of vitriol. Pure sulfuric acid is a highly corrosive, colorless, viscous liquid. The salts of sulfuric acid are called sulfates...
, the latter a waste product of the production of town gas
Coal gas
Coal gas is a flammable gaseous fuel made by the destructive distillation of coal containing a variety of calorific gases including hydrogen, carbon monoxide, methane and volatile hydrocarbons together with small quantities of non-calorific gases such as carbon dioxide and nitrogen...
. As the new factory was highly profitable, Vorster & Grüneberg openend new ammonium sulfate factories in Nippes, Cologne
Nippes, Cologne
Nippes is the Fifth city district of Cologne, Germany. Nippes was merged into the city of Cologne in 1888, the district was formed in 1975...
(incorporated into Cologne in 1888), Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf is the capital city of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and centre of the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region.Düsseldorf is an important international business and financial centre and renowned for its fashion and trade fairs. Located centrally within the European Megalopolis, the...
, Essen
Essen
- Origin of the name :In German-speaking countries, the name of the city Essen often causes confusion as to its origins, because it is commonly known as the German infinitive of the verb for the act of eating, and/or the German noun for food. Although scholars still dispute the interpretation of...
, Dortmund
Dortmund
Dortmund is a city in Germany. It is located in the Bundesland of North Rhine-Westphalia, in the Ruhr area. Its population of 585,045 makes it the 7th largest city in Germany and the 34th largest in the European Union....
, Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
, Leipzig
Leipzig
Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...
and Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
and an ammonium chloride
Ammonium chloride
Ammonium chloride NH4Cl is an inorganic compound with the formula NH4Cl. It is a white crystalline salt that is highly soluble in water. Solutions of ammonium chloride are mildly acidic. Sal ammoniac is a name of natural, mineralogical form of ammonium chloride...
factory in Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
.
Magnesium sulfate
Magnesium sulfate is a chemical compound containing magnesium, sulfur and oxygen, with the formula MgSO4. It is often encountered as the heptahydrate epsomite , commonly called Epsom salt, from the town of Epsom in Surrey, England, where the salt was distilled from the springs that arise where the...
in order to reduce the losses. Magnesium sulfate was primarily intended for the export to the United Kingdom, where it was used as a drying agent in the textile industry. The new product and an improving market for potassium nitrate
Potassium nitrate
Potassium nitrate is a chemical compound with the formula KNO3. It is an ionic salt of potassium ions K+ and nitrate ions NO3−.It occurs as a mineral niter and is a natural solid source of nitrogen. Its common names include saltpetre , from medieval Latin sal petræ: "stone salt" or possibly "Salt...
helped the company to overcome the financial crisis in 1870. In 1871 the potassium chloride factory in Staßfurt was closed. On October 1, 1875 the second son of Vorster, the chemist Fritz Vorster joined the company as technical director. After the death of the founder Julius Vorster on October 10, 1876, the new owners converted the company into a limited partnership
Limited partnership
A limited partnership is a form of partnership similar to a general partnership, except that in addition to one or more general partners , there are one or more limited partners . It is a partnership in which only one partner is required to be a general partner.The GPs are, in all major respects,...
(Kommanditgesellschaft
Kommanditgesellschaft
A Kommanditgesellschaft is the German name for a limited partnership business entity and is used in German, Austrian and some other European legal systems....
).
In 1878 Carl Scheibler became the head of the fertilizer department. Scheibler introduced an inexpensive fertilizer known as Thomas phospate. This fertilizer was based on Thomas slag, named after Sidney Gilchrist Thomas
Sidney Gilchrist Thomas
Sidney Gilchrist Thomas was an English inventor.-Life:Thomas was born at Canonbury, London and was educated at Dulwich College....
. This new, inexpensive fertilizer allowed even poor farmers to fertilize their fields. At the same time municipalities began to use the waste products of the production of town gas
Coal gas
Coal gas is a flammable gaseous fuel made by the destructive distillation of coal containing a variety of calorific gases including hydrogen, carbon monoxide, methane and volatile hydrocarbons together with small quantities of non-calorific gases such as carbon dioxide and nitrogen...
for themselves or were selling them for profits, forcing Vorster & Grüneberg to gradually close their ammonium sulfate factories at other locations over the next fifteen years. In contrast, the factory in Kalk continued its expansion with new production facilities for sulfuric acid and nitric acid
Nitric acid
Nitric acid , also known as aqua fortis and spirit of nitre, is a highly corrosive and toxic strong acid.Colorless when pure, older samples tend to acquire a yellow cast due to the accumulation of oxides of nitrogen. If the solution contains more than 86% nitric acid, it is referred to as fuming...
opening in 1881. In 1885 Carl Scheibler founded his own company, Düngerfabrik C. Scheibler & Co, with the participation of the owners of Vorster & Grüneberg. This company produced Thomas phospate and other fertilizers in domestic and international production facilities.
Chemische Fabrik Kalk GmbH (1892–1945)
On May 24, 1892 the Vorster & Grüneberg Kommanditgesellschaft was renamed into Chemische Fabrik Kalk GmbH (CFK) and converted into a company with limited liabilityLimited liability
Limited liability is a concept where by a person's financial liability is limited to a fixed sum, most commonly the value of a person's investment in a company or partnership with limited liability. If a company with limited liability is sued, then the plaintiffs are suing the company, not its...
(GmbH
Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung
Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung is a type of legal entityvery common in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and other Central European countries...
). It was one of the first limited liabilities companies in the German Empire as the law on companies with limited liabilities was adopted only one month earlier. On June 7, 1894 the last surviving founder Hermann Julius Grüneberg dies. His son Richard Grüneberg succeeds him and joins the management board of the company. After 1900 the production of potassium carbonate ceased due to competitive pressure. Instead, the company began to produce sodium carbonate using the Solvay process
Solvay process
The Solvay process, also referred to as the ammonia-soda process, is the major industrial process for the production of soda ash . The ammonia-soda process was developed into its modern form by Ernest Solvay during the 1860s...
. In 1902 the Düngerfabrik C. Scheibler & Co. was incorporated, and a year later the last remaining factory in the Staßburg region, the potassium chloride factory in Leopolshall was sold. To guarantee the water supply in the main factory in Kalk a water tower with an integrted chimney and a height of 43.6 metres (143 ft) was built. This water tower should dominate the skyline of Kalk for the next one hundred years.
Ammonium hydroxide
Ammonia solution, also known as ammonium hydroxide, ammonia water, ammonical liquor, ammonia liquor, aqua ammonia, aqueous ammonia, or simply ammonia, is a solution of ammonia in water. It can be denoted by the symbols NH3...
, ammonium chloride, ammonia, sodium hydroxide, sodium sulfate
Sodium sulfate
Sodium sulfate is the sodium salt of sulfuric acid. When anhydrous, it is a white crystalline solid of formula Na2SO4 known as the mineral thenardite; the decahydrate Na2SO4·10H2O has been known as Glauber's salt or, historically, sal mirabilis since the 17th century. Another solid is the...
, nitric acid, hydrochloric acid
Hydrochloric acid
Hydrochloric acid is a solution of hydrogen chloride in water, that is a highly corrosive, strong mineral acid with many industrial uses. It is found naturally in gastric acid....
, sulfuric acid, sodium carbonate and various fertilizers. Apart from the main factory in Kalk the company operated an ammonia factory in Cologne-Nippes and fertilizer factories in Cologne-Ehrenfeld and Euskirchen
Euskirchen
Euskirchen is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, capital of the district Euskirchen. While Euskirchen resembles a modern shopping town, it also has a history dating back over 700 years, having been granted town-status in 1302....
. The company was also one of the owners of the coal istillation plant Ammonium GmbH in Weitmar near Bochum
Bochum
Bochum is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, western Germany. It is located in the Ruhr area and is surrounded by the cities of Essen, Gelsenkirchen, Herne, Castrop-Rauxel, Dortmund, Witten and Hattingen.-History:...
and held interests in domestic and international Thomas steel mills producing slag. Total production of all chemicals combined was 600000 metric tons (661,386.8 ST). In 1908 the company employed more than 1200 workers.
With the outbreak of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
employment fell to 70 workers and parts of production were shut down, as the company was not producing essential chemicals for the war economy. Management then concentrated on the production of saltpeter
Niter
Niter or nitre is the mineral form of potassium nitrate, KNO3, also known as saltpeter or saltpetre . Historically, the term "niter" – cognate with "natrium", a Latin word for sodium – has been very vaguely defined, and it has been applied to a variety of other minerals and chemical compounds,...
, a raw material for explosives. Due to the importance of the chemical the workfore increased to 504 employees in December 1914. In 1916 an explosives research laboratory was created, and a short time afterwards the first explosive agent was developed. Despite the lack of workers the company also expanded into the new market for animal food by treating straw with sodium hydroxide.
After the end of the war the treaty of Versailles
Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles was one of the peace treaties at the end of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June 1919, exactly five years after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. The other Central Powers on the German side of...
forced Chemische Werke Kalk to end the production of explosives and close the research laboratory. In the 1920s demand for fertilizers slowly increased, but was accompanied by an increase in prices for raw materials. To mitigate the effect of the price increases the company began to produce a fertilizer based on ammonium nitrate and calcium carbonate
Calcium carbonate
Calcium carbonate is a chemical compound with the formula CaCO3. It is a common substance found in rocks in all parts of the world, and is the main component of shells of marine organisms, snails, coal balls, pearls, and eggshells. Calcium carbonate is the active ingredient in agricultural lime,...
, two by-products of the production of other fertilizers. In 1930 Scheibler’s Kampdünger (Kamp standing for Kalk-Ammon-Phospor, i.e. lime
Lime (mineral)
Lime is a general term for calcium-containing inorganic materials, in which carbonates, oxides and hydroxides predominate. Strictly speaking, lime is calcium oxide or calcium hydroxide. It is also the name for a single mineral of the CaO composition, occurring very rarely...
-ammonium
Ammonium
The ammonium cation is a positively charged polyatomic cation with the chemical formula NH. It is formed by the protonation of ammonia...
-phosphorus
Phosphorus
Phosphorus is the chemical element that has the symbol P and atomic number 15. A multivalent nonmetal of the nitrogen group, phosphorus as a mineral is almost always present in its maximally oxidized state, as inorganic phosphate rocks...
and Dünger being the German word for fertilizer) was introduced, a two-component fertilizer that was readily accepted by the market. The company management at this time considered moving the factory from Kalk to Godorf in Rodenkirchen
Rodenkirchen
Rodenkirchen is a southern city district of Cologne in Germany. It has about 100,000 inhabitants and covers as an area of 54.56 square kilometres...
as the high population density made expansion of the factory difficult. Ultimately this plan was not implemented.
After the Hitler's rise to power in 1933 the company gradually began to concentrate on raw materials for the production of explosives. Since 1937 women were employed as workers. After the outbreak of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, with the maleworkforce in military service, women were conscripted for work at the company. Since 1940 Chemische Fabrik Kalk used approximately 460 forced laborers from Poland and later the Soviet Union. The factory was heavily damaged during the bombing raids
Bombing of Cologne in World War II
The City of Cologne was bombed in 262 separate air raids by the Allies during World War II, including 31 times by the Royal Air Force . Air raid alarms went off in the winter/spring of 1940 as enemy bombers passed overhead. However, the first actual bombing took place on 12 May 1940...
which started in 1942. In 1943 the sulfuric acid plant was completely destroyed, a year later almost all of the production came to a standstill. On March 6, 1945 the grandson of the founder, Fritz Vorster Jr. closed the factory after 80 percent of the production facilities had been destroyed. At this time the company had only 100 employees.
Acquisition by Salzdetfurth AG and factory closing (1945–1993)
In August 1945, only three months after the end of the war the Chemische Fabrik Kalk began to produce burnt limeCalcium oxide
Calcium oxide , commonly known as quicklime or burnt lime, is a widely used chemical compound. It is a white, caustic, alkaline crystalline solid at room temperature....
for the purpose of bartering. Workers returning from war captivity cannibalized some sections of the plant to repair other sections. Some equipment and tools that were removed from the factory before the bombing raids were returned. In March 1946 the production of ammonium sulfate resumed. In 1947 large parts of the factory were rebuilt and in the summer of 1948 production of susperphospate in September 1948 production of Kampdünger resumed. As potash was added to the Kampdünger it was sold as KAMPKA-Dünger (the ending KA standing for Kalisalz, the German word for potash). In 1950 the production of the company had reached the old pre-war production level and the company had a market share of 20 percent of the German market for sodium carbonate, although it decreased to 13 percent one year later. During this time the management again considered a move of the factory from Kalk to Godorf, but after a study concluded that a moving the factory would be more costly than staying in Kalk the already purchased land in Godorf was sold. In 1952 the Salzdetfurth AG
K+S
K+S AG is a German-based agricultural chemical and salt company, headquartered in Kassel. The company is Europe's largest supplier of potash for use in fertilizer and, after the acquisition of Morton Salt, the world's largest salt producer...
acquired a 25 percent share of Chemische Fabrik Kalk and increased the share to 75 percent in 1957.
Phosphate
A phosphate, an inorganic chemical, is a salt of phosphoric acid. In organic chemistry, a phosphate, or organophosphate, is an ester of phosphoric acid. Organic phosphates are important in biochemistry and biogeochemistry or ecology. Inorganic phosphates are mined to obtain phosphorus for use in...
s was opened in 1960. In the same year the factory produced 417000 metric tons (459,663.8 ST) of KAMPKA fertilizer and 170000 metric tons (187,392.9 ST) of sodium carbonate. In 1960 the Salzdetfurth AG acquired the remaining 25 percent of Chemische Fabrik Kalk. After the takeover the Salzdetfurth AG began to modernize the production facilities and build for example a new, 120 metres (393.7 ft) tall chimney that helped alleviate the odor pollution from sulfurous exhaust fumes. In the mid 1960s the fillings and loading plants were converted to fully automated operation. Despite these modernizations the factory equipment, in particular the sodium carbonate production facilities were outdated. The company also lacked new products that would have allowed the company to enter new markets.
In 1971 the Salzdetfurth AG merged with the BASF
BASF
BASF SE is the largest chemical company in the world and is headquartered in Germany. BASF originally stood for Badische Anilin- und Soda-Fabrik . Today, the four letters are a registered trademark and the company is listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, London Stock Exchange, and Zurich Stock...
subsidiary Wintershall
Wintershall
Wintershall AG is the largest crude oil and natural gas producer in Germany. The company is based in Kassel, Germany. Wintershall is a wholly owned subsidiary of BASF, based in Ludwigshafen. The name Wintershall is derived from the surname of the enterprise co-founder Carl Julius Winter and the...
and the Burbach-Kaliwerke AG. One year later the Salzdetfurth AG and Burbach-Kaliwerke AG and the sodium carbonate production facilities of Wintershall were merged into the new Kali und Salz AG
K+S
K+S AG is a German-based agricultural chemical and salt company, headquartered in Kassel. The company is Europe's largest supplier of potash for use in fertilizer and, after the acquisition of Morton Salt, the world's largest salt producer...
. Under the new ownership Chemische Fabrik Kalk expanded into the production of flower and garden fertilizers. In 1974 the factory had 1800 employees, had a revenue of 400 million DM and was active in the production of sodium carbonate, calcium chloride
Calcium chloride
Calcium chloride, CaCl2, is a salt of calcium and chlorine. It behaves as a typical ionic halide, and is solid at room temperature. Common applications include brine for refrigeration plants, ice and dust control on roads, and desiccation...
, fine chemicals
Fine chemicals
Fine chemicals are pure, single chemical substances that are commercially produced with chemical reactions for highly specialized applications. Fine chemicals produced can be categorized into active pharmaceutical ingredients and their intermediates, biocides, and specialty chemicals for technical...
, phosphate for animal feed and fertilizers.
In the early 1980s the factory tried to enter new markets with the production of bromine
Bromine
Bromine ") is a chemical element with the symbol Br, an atomic number of 35, and an atomic mass of 79.904. It is in the halogen element group. The element was isolated independently by two chemists, Carl Jacob Löwig and Antoine Jerome Balard, in 1825–1826...
, but closed production after a fire destroyed the production facility only two weeks after completion in 1985. Due to increasing competition in the market for fertilizers and the lack of new products, company revenue fell from 570 million DM in 1985 to 370 million DM. The company posted increasing financial losses, partly due to its locational disadvantage as all raw materials and all final goods had to be transported by truck from the factory to Cologne's Rhine harbor. Another disadvantage was the location of the factory in a densely populated residential area and a decreasing acceptance of the pollution caused by the factory. Without operating profits a relocation of the factory was not feasible, and thus, without any prospects, the fertilizer production was shut down in 1989. Employment fell from 1400 employees in 1985 to 830 in 1990, with the factory only producing sodium carbonate, calcium chloride and phosphate for animal feed. Although losses were reduced to almost zero in 1990, the financial situation deteriorated in 1992 when the prices for sodium carbonate fell. The fall in prices was partly due to the lifting of anti-dumping on sodium carbonate imports from the American Natural Soda Ash Corporation (ANSAC) by the European Commission. Another factor in the worsening financial situation was an antitrust fine of US$1.38 million imposed by the European commission for participating in a sodium carbonate cartel together with Solvay
Solvay (company)
Solvay S.A. is a Belgian chemical company with its head office in Ixelles, Brussels, Belgium. It was founded in 1863 by Ernest Solvay to produce sodium carbonate by the solvay process. Since then the company has diversified to two major sectors of activity: chemicals and plastics...
and Imperial Chemical Industries
Imperial Chemical Industries
Imperial Chemical Industries was a British chemical company, taken over by AkzoNobel, a Dutch conglomerate, one of the largest chemical producers in the world. In its heyday, ICI was the largest manufacturing company in the British Empire, and commonly regarded as a "bellwether of the British...
. Company revenue fell to 225 million DM and losses increased to 9.6 million DM. On December 23, 1993 all remaining production was shut down and all remaining 700 workers were laid off. Since then Chemische Fabrik Kalk GmbH is the name of a wholesale distributor of chemicals and subsidiary of K+S AG (named Kali und Salz AG until 1999). Company revenue in 2007 was 7.86 million Euro
Euro
The euro is the official currency of the eurozone: 17 of the 27 member states of the European Union. It is also the currency used by the Institutions of the European Union. The eurozone consists of Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg,...
, down from 10.07 million Euro in 2004.
Demolition and redevelopment of the factory site (1993–today)
Sulfur
Sulfur or sulphur is the chemical element with atomic number 16. In the periodic table it is represented by the symbol S. It is an abundant, multivalent non-metal. Under normal conditions, sulfur atoms form cyclic octatomic molecules with chemical formula S8. Elemental sulfur is a bright yellow...
and heavy metals they had to be decontaminated from 1996 to 2001. New streets and an access road to the Zoobrücke, a Rhine bridge were build. In 2003 the new Cologne police department headquarters were opened. In 2005 the Köln Arcaden shopping mall openend, with the parking garage build around the historic water tower. Plans to open a Chemische Fabrik Kalk museum in the water tower have not been realized. In April 2009 the science center Odysseum will open, which will be the largest science center in Germany. Other planned projects include residential and office buildings, retail space and an urban park. The former factory site is today known under the official name Cityforum Kalk, or abbreviated CFK.