Leuna works
The Leuna works (German: Leunawerke) in Leuna, Saxony-Anhalt, is one of the biggest chemical industrial complexes in Germany. The site, now owned jointly by companies such as Total S.A., BASF, Linde AG, and DOMO Group, covers 13 km2 and produces a very wide range of chemicals and plastics.
Ammonia is an important intermediate product for the manufacture of nitric acid and other nitrogen compounds, needed to produce fertilizers and explosives in particular. 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 named Badische Anilin- und Sodafabrik, Ammoniakwerk Merseburg. Construction started on 25 May 1916, and the first tank car with ammonia left the works in April 1917.
In 1920 the ammonia works of Leuna and Oppau merged into Ammoniakwerke Merseburg-Oppau GmbH, and in 1921 Leuna works became one of the locations of workers' revolts.
The proximity of the site to lignite (brown coal) mines was also advantageous for the production of syngas (hydrogen and carbon monoxide) and tests of coal conversion into liquid fuels on an industrial scale. The Leuna plant for the commercial hydrogenation of lignite started production on April 1, 1927.
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