Luetzkendorf plant

The Fischer-Tropsch process requires synthesis gas in which the total sulfur does not exceed 2.0 mg./cubic meter. This purification was done in two stages (1) Removal of hydrogen sulfide and (2) removal of organic sulfur. The removal of hydrogen sulfide is almost universally carried out by the well known iron oxide process. At the Luetzkendorf plant, the so-called Alkazid process had been installed, in which a solution of an alkaline organic compound absorbs the hydrogen sulfide, which is then continuously stripped from the solution by steam. At Luetzkendorf, the evolved hydrogen sulfide was converted into elemental sulfur. 

A total of nine Fischer-Tropsch Facilities were constructed, giving priority to the industrial area in Rhineland-Westphalia. The plant capacity of all FT facilities amounted to 740,000 t fuel per year. Approximately 40% of it went to the two central German facilities in Schwarzheide and Luetzkendorf. 

The synthetic fuel plant of Luetzkendorf, which was also heavily damaged by the war and partly dismantled, was returned to the German ad-... 

In 1950 the maximum production performance in Luetzkendorf exceeded its level in 1943." It is remarkable that the Luetzkendorfer FT-plant was shut down at the beginning of 1951 for financial reasons." ... 

Fertilizer production was badly weakened by the dismantling of about 65% of the ammonia and 100% of the nitric acid capacities of the Leuna plants in Merseburg. The nitrogen plant Piesteritz also lost all of its facilities for nitric acid production, and the ammonia facility was removed from the Luetzkendorfer mineral oil plant. In addition, the phosphoric acid facility in Piesteritz (40,000 t per year) was completely dismantled and the older phosphoric furnaces in Bitterfeld were partly dismantled. 

In February of 1947, after Stalin announced the reduction of the reparation burden and after vehement criticism of the creation of the "Soviet Trusts" by the Allies in the Control Council, 74 companies were returned to the German administrative authorities. These included coal mining and fuel production plants, among them the lubricating-oil plant of Luetzkendorf, and 7 medium-sized chemical plants, such as the Rodleben plant and the Ruetgerswerke of Dohna. ... 

In addition, the "old plants" in Schkopau, Bitterfeld, Wolfen, Piesteritz and Luetzkendorf were considerably expanded. The same applied to the chemical fiber businesses in Premnitz, Schwarza and Pirna. About three quarters of the planned investments until 1965 went to traditional chemical locations. Regional planners therefore failed to use the chemical program as a compensation for the South-North difference. For reasons of costs and time the conurbation Halle-Leipzig, the center of the GDR, was preferred. 

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