Billion investment in Leuna
A chemical site in transition: Several major investments are planned in Leuna by 2022 to achieve that goal. "We will change and grow more than ever since privatization in the 1990s," said Christof Günther, managing director of the infrastructure company InfraLeuna GmbH. The course for this, he said, is investment in the raw materials base. This is linked to new technologies, such as hydrogen technology, he said. "In the period from 2014 to 2022/2023, we will then have invested another 2.2 billion euros," he said. This includes the construction of a biorefinery by the Finnish company UPM (Helsinki). This is expected to create around 220 new jobs.
In the competition to build the biorefinery, which will cost around 550 million euros, Leuna prevailed over other sites in the industry in Germany, Günther said. According to Joachim Ragnitz of the Ifo Institute (Dresden branch), the eastern German chemical industry has undergone a successful transformation since 1990 and is now competitive. "However, there is still a lack of research," he said. Globally active corporations have mostly set up production facilities in eastern Germany, but left research at their headquarters, Ragnitz said.
Starting in 2022, the new refinery in Leuna will produce biochemicals from sustainably sourced hardwood, primarily beech wood, up to 220,000 metric tons a year. The site company InfraLeuna paved the way for this, Günther said. For example, he said, investments are being made in storage areas for wood on the site of a former coal storage yard. In Leuna (Saalekreis), the last coal-fired power plant went off the grid in 1995. Since then, gas and oil have been the primary raw materials.
Another important building block on the way to becoming a sustainable chemical site is green hydrogen, Günther explained. Around 60 million euros will be invested in a Linde AG plant in Leuna for this purpose. This is to go on stream in stages from summer 2022 and produce 3,200 metric tons of hydrogen per year using certified green electricity. According to the state government's plans, Saxony-Anhalt intends to develop into a hydrogen model region. This includes research by the Fraunhofer Gesellschaft in Leuna. Hydrogen is seen as a beacon of hope. For the chemical industry, which needs a lot of reliable energy for production, investments and research in this area are a promising approach, Ragnitz said.
Today, the Leuna chemical site employs about 10,000 people and is home to about 100 companies. After 1990, the former large-scale combine was restructured with billions of euros in federal, state and EU funding. This was associated with the elimination of thousands of jobs. A petroleum refinery was also built in Leuna to produce fuels.
Source: www.infraleuna.de