SYNTHETIC FUEL INSTALLATIONS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP82-00457R004000280008-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: November 9, 2016
• Document Release Date: March 20, 1999
• Sequence Number: 8
• Publication Date: January 11, 1950
• Content Type: REPORT

ASSIFICATION
MFORMATION RE'-PORT
Serf ',1 - Appro & `6I PVfAAftbP 92-00457RC0400
CD NO.
25X1A
2&'2
11
COUNTRY Germany (Russian Zone)/USSR DATE DISTR,
SUBJECT Synthetic Fuel Installations
DATE OF INFO.
25X1A CONFIDENTIAL
ACQUIRED German 25X1 A
PLACE
25X1X
NO. OF PAGES 2
NO. OF ENCLS.. 2 (2 pages each)
(LISTED BELOW)
SUPPLEMENT T3
lQ Besides the Kraftstoff and Industriebau (,I$), located in Berlin, the
following four engineer bureaus in the Russian Zone are engaged in the
designing of hydrogenation installations for the Russians:
a. B8hlen
b, Zeitz
c a Sohwarzheide, near Senftenberg
d. Uhde, Leuna-Mereeburg.
2a The engineer bureau at B8hlen is located outside the town in the &.rection
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or RBtta in the vicinity of the BBhlen Stadium,* Chief of this Yrceau is
Dipl. Ing. Riedel who is about 40 years old and a hydrogenations expert,
The Zeitz engineer bureau is located on the premises of the hyd.:ogenation
plant at Tr8glitz near Zeita. The engineer bureau at Sohwarzh;ide is
located on the premises of the hydrogenation plant in that tein The Uhde
engineer bureau used to be housed on the promises of the Ler.:a tierke but
was transferred recently outside the plant e.rea for security reasons.*
German chief of the Uhde engineer bureau is Dr. Blavhuth.
The KIB as well as the engineer bureau mentioned a ove tar.rk for the i1TO
(5_ci2nti.f g Teehnical Popartment) of the L1inistry for Syn thetie Gases and
Fuels in Moscow. The NTC is located in Lerli .BaL .sberg. Liaison between
it and the various engineer bureau is maintained rfy tw.? Russians named
Epstein and Kononov. Epstein, who has only one -xm,, v.' rks specifically with
the BBhlen engineer bureau while Kononov roorks 1"a close connection with the
Uhde engineer bureau. Epstein supervises the wcrk on the AT installation.ca at
the KIB while Kononov is in charge of the SS ixn.itallation also being designed
at this bureau. The two Russians are very reserved and during their visits
to the KIB deal exclusively with Sitter who is the director of the bureau.
Epstein is generally considered to be a hydrogenation expert and lives in
B8hlen. Recently he has often criticized the work of the KIB8
The Blechhamnner plant in Upper Silesia was constructed during the war under
considerable economic difficulties with emphasis on the need for saving expenses
as much as possible.** The work of the KIE which pertains to the reconstbu.ction
of the Bloch'hammer plant in the Soviet Uniran apparently followed the same pattern
taking into account economic difficulties and the need for saving money,,
NAVY
AIR
CLASSIFICATION
 Sanitized - Approved For Release : CIA-RDP82-00457R004000280008-3
25X.1 A-
5. The KIB and the other engineer bureaus in the Russian Zone are engaged in
project Krasnoy, i.e. the reconstruction of the dismantled Blechhamner
plant and the designing and planning of a large new hydrogenation plant
in Russia. Because of the reticence of the Russians no definite conclusions
can be drawn regarding the location of the plant. According to some informa-
tion reluctantly submitted by the Russians regarding the water supply for
the plant, it is generally assumed that the plant is to be constructed in the
vicinity of Lake Baikal in Siberia. The construction of the new plant was
to benefit by the experience gained during the construction of the original
Blechhammer plant. According to Epstein the Russians have now decided not
to construct the second plant at all because they are convinced that in order
to improve the plans for the second plant, operating experience rather than
construction experience is what is mainly needed. Operating experience can be
gained only after many years and the Russians presume that by that time the
operating methods of the Blechhammer plant will have been superseded by new
methods, thus leaving them two obsolete and uneconomical plants.
6. From May 1946 until the end of 1947, the KIB was busy drawing up the preliminary
design for the entire installation. Following this, the bureau started on
the planning of the entire installation in its final form. After the KIB had
started to work, the order was suddenly recalled and the KIB was paid 40% of
the total sum provided for the entire work. It later became known that the
project was to be finished by a Russian bureau in Moscow. Subsequent orders
for the KIB pertained only to completing and supplementing the work done in
the Moscow bureau and referred to technical details which apparently were not
available in Moscow, The KIB received the following orders:
a. To plan and design an AT installation for the production of aviation fuel.
This order was received early in 1948.
b, To plan and design an SS installation for viscose products with the low
viscosity required for the production of lubricants. This order was
received. in the middle of 1948.
c. To plan and design a waste water purifying installation for the purification
of the water supply into which the waste water will flow from the plant.
This order is still being worked on at KIB,
7. The AT installation is to work in the following runner: Standard lutylene.is
alkalized with isobutane by using concentrated sulphuric acid of 96% purity as a
catalyst. The required standard butyleno is produced by catalytic hydrogenation
of standard butane. The final product is high-test 100-octane fuel having
isoparaffin properties. This high test fuel is to be used for fighter planes
operating at great altitudes. The properties of this fuel can be changed by
leading it or mixing it with other high quality fuels. The AT installation is
designed for a capacity of at least 50 thousand tons per year, at 6.25 tons per hour,
8. The installation is.to produce heavy lubricants (55-oil) for high capacity
motors with very high cylinder temperatures. Lubricants of this index'must
be high and the viscosity polarity low. Furthermore only a minute degree of
coke residue is permissible. During the synthetic production in the SS
installation, "Olefin" with a low boiling point is treated by polymerization.
The starting point is ethylene which, however, must be free from carbonic oxide
as well as sulphur and,phosphorus compounds. :inch ethylene is produced from
ethane by thermal molecularization according to the Huber process. The
surplus ethane and surplus molecules of other elements are extracted by the
Linde installation in order to keep the ethylene pure. -The SS installation
is designed for a yearly capacity of 30 thousand tons of pure lubricant (SS-906)
at 4.4 tons per hour. By-products are used either for lubrication or are
added to special lubricants.
9. 2l ahed are the technical delivery conditions for the AT and SS installations,
'r os Locations of this engineer bureau and the engineer bureau at
B3fi.,, en are confirmed by previous reports,
25X.1 A
## Gommemts Epstein has now directed the KIB to give up this policy of
economy and to design the plant on a large finanical scale.
IAL
Sanitized - Approved 4P,6 ease : CIA-RDP82-00457RO OOU2 OOU8-3