Triebstoffewerk Rheinpreussen, moers
Location
This plant is situated at the North East side of Moers. Authorization to inspect it was issued by the Production Officer, Rheinpreussen Group of No.1 Ruhr Coal District. The head office of No.1 R.C.D. is at Hamborn and the office of the Rheinpreussen Group is at Moers.
Description
This is a Fischer-Tropsch plant operating at atmospheric pressure. The raw materials are coke and coke-oven gas, in amounts of 655 tons and 250,000 cubic metres per day respectively. It has a total of 100 catalyst ovens of tube-and-plate design operating in two stages with 55 in the first and 35 in the second and with 10 ordinarily off stream. The products amounted to a total of about 70,000 tons per year. There was also an alcohol plant which produced about 3,000 tons per year of total alcohols largely propyl and butyl.
A very detailed description of the history construction and operation of this plant has been reported by H.V.Atwell and W.C. Schroeder, CIOS Target No. 30/5.05.
This report is on file at the office of the Ministry of Fuel and Power and at the CIOS Library, File No. XXV - 60.
Status
On September 19th the writer visited this plant and interrogated:
Dr. Struever, Works manager.
The plant has been damaged by bombing to the extent of 30 per cent. I was estimated to be possible to bring it back to 50 per cent of its normal production in 4 months and to 100 per cent in 7 months. There were, at the time of the inspection, about 2000 Fischer-Tropsch workmen in the plant but some were employed in the coking plant. Normal operation required about 750. To carry out the reconstruction schedule given above about 900 building workmen and about 800 skilled metal workers would be needed. Resumption of operations was also stated to depend on production of catalyst at Holten although some development work is being conducted by Rheinpreussen on an iron catalyst suitable for use at atmospheric pressure.