History

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz visits Industriepark Höchst to learn about advances in hydrogen technology.

RMV, the regional public transit operator, replaces diesel locomotives with 27 fuel cell trains. Infraserv Höchst supplies the hydrogen for the trains and builds the requisite filling infrastructure at Industriepark Höchst.

Following the start of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, Infraserv Höchst conducts various campaigns to help the people in Ukraine as well as Ukrainian refugees in Germany. Not only did the Industrial Clinic at Industriepark Höchst provide bulk supplies of bandages and donate an ambulance for emergency medical services in Kiev, but refugees were also put up in a hotel in Kelkheim, Germany and supported while they stayed there.

Construction of a new hazardous substances warehouse starts at Industriepark Höchst. Infraserv Höchst is investing around EUR 35 million in the state-of-the-art warehouse building, which is being built on the southern bank of the Main River on a 16,500 m² site and will hold around 21,500 pallets. The new hazardous substance warehouse will help drive the modernization and increased competitiveness of the site with highly efficient processes, extensive digitalization and value-added logistics services.

Infraserv Höchst’s fireboat, the “FLB Hoechst,” is retiring. For 60 years, it patrolled the section of the Main River alongside Industriepark Höchst. Before it goes into a well-deserved retirement, it embarks on one final voyage down the Rhine River to the North Sea. To commemorate its six decades in the service of safety, the FLB Hoechst receives a proper send-off before it journeys to Norderstedt, where the Infraserv fireboat becomes part of the Schleswig-Holstein Fire Museum’s permanent exhibition.

In March 2022, the safety baton passes to the “Julietta”: The fireboat, which is operated by Industriepark Höchst’s industrial fire brigade, is nine meters long, 2.70 meters wide, powered by a 400 hp engine and equipped with the latest technology. By purchasing the fireboat and a new jetty for a total of EUR 480,000, Infraserv Höchst is investing in the safety of the chemical and pharmaceutical site.

Hesse welcomes its first hydrogen filling station where the world’s largest fleet of fuel cell-powered passenger trains can start fueling up in December 2022. RMV, the regional public transit operator, purchases 27 environmentally friendly fuel cell locomotives that will be refueled at Industriepark Höchst.

Infraserv Höchst sets up four vaccination centers where Industrial Clinic employees administer shots during the COVID-19 pandemic. Industriepark Höchst is one of four model projects in Hesse where occupational physicians give COVID vaccinations.

In addition, Infraserv and its subsidiary, Provadis, produce hand disinfectant. More than half of the output is distributed free of charge to hospitals in the region.

Childcare is now also available at Industriepark Höchst to support employees who face special challenges following the sudden closure of schools and childcare centers.

The wastewater treatment plant (WTP) at Industriepark Höchst processes 60 million liters of wastewater every single day, reducing COD by 150 tons – as much as the output of a city with about 1.25 million residents. COD, short for “chemical oxygen demand”, measures the amount of pollution in the water. This makes the Infraserv Höchst-operated WTP the largest industrial plant in Hesse and one of the most important facilities at Industriepark Höchst.

Thermal Conversion Compound Industriepark Höchst GmbH (T2C) assumes operator responsibility for the waste-to-energy (WTE) plant. The plant incinerates refuse-derived fuels – i.e. high-calorific-value sorted fractions of municipal solid waste – in a fluidized bed of hot quartz sand. The combustion heat released in the process is converted into electricity and steam and fed into Industriepark Höchst’s utility supply systems.

Frankfurt Mayor Petra Roth commissions the new gas turbine plant at Industriepark Höchst. Infraserv Höchst has invested around EUR 70 million in the state-of-the-art facility, which is equipped with two gas turbines that each generate approximately 50 megawatts of electric power. The facility further optimizes Industriepark Höchst’s power infrastructure and, like the current power station, harnesses all the benefits of co-generation, including exceptional energy efficiency and significantly lower carbon dioxide emissions. The new gas turbine plant emits 224,000 fewer metric tons of carbon dioxide each year than conventional power generation – which means Infraserv Höchst’s investment also plays an important role in combating climate change in the Rhine-Main Region. The new facility is tremendously important for Industriepark Höchst, too: It has made the site largely energy-independent.

Ticona commissions its new plant for the production of polyoxymethylene (POM). It is the world’s largest production facility for Hostaform®-branded high-performance plastic.

Construction has begun on a cutting-edge biomethane upgrading plant at Industriepark Höchst. The plant is a joint project between Infraserv Höchst, the industrial park’s operator, and Mainova, a utility company, and will be built by Infranova Bioerdgas GmbH, a special-purpose entity that the two partners have set up for this venture. Infranova is investing EUR 5 million in the project. Since the plant’s completion in 2011, biogas produced from sewage sludge and organic waste in Infraserv Höchst’s biogas plant has been upgraded to pipeline-quality methane in the new plant and then injected into the public grid.

Industriepark Höchst welcomes a new tenant: the LOEWE-CSC supercomputer from the Goethe University of Frankfurt, one of the world’s 100 fastest computers (TOP500 list). EUR 5.4 million was invested in the LOEWE-CSC. Infraserv Höchst provides space and utilities for the high-performance machine and has specifically developed a design that offers low operating costs and excellent integration with the existing infrastructure.

A special kind of bridge building: Infraserv Höchst constructs a new supply bridge for various raw materials and pipeline fluids at Industriepark Höchst. The 135-meter-long center section of the new steel truss bridge is floated and lifted on July 15, 2009.

Famous “Hoechsters” mark the way to Industriepark Höchst: Key roads leading to Industriepark Höchst are named after well-known people who have left an outsize mark on Hoechst’s corporate history. A colorful new sound barrier is built along the western perimeter of Industriepark Höchst.

Around EUR 44 million goes into the construction of a state-of-the-art logistics center. Its roughly 70,000 pallet positions make it the largest storage facility for chemicals in the state of Hesse.

Infraserv Höchst starts the construction of a waste-to-energy plant. The company is investing EUR 300 million in the plant, which will have an annual capacity of around 700,000 metric tons, making it one of the largest of its kind in Germany.

Celebration at Infraserv Höchst: The company operating Industriepark Höchst celebrates its tenth anniversary with 180 guests at an official ceremony. It hosts a big party for Infraserv Höchst’s 2,900 employees and their families.

Ticona GmbH relocates its Kelsterbach plant to Industriepark Höchst. The new plant goes online in 2011. More than 50 sites had competed to be the new home of the Ticona plant. Industriepark Höchst prevailed over its rivals in the site search. Ticona’s once-in-a-century relocation project is unique in Germany’s chemical industry and demonstrates Industriepark Höchst’s leading position among industrial sites.

After two years of preparation, the “Zero Regio” project, co-financed by the European Union, enters its practical phase with the opening of a hydrogen filling station on the southern edge of Industriepark Höchst. The project aims to provide a hydrogen supply structure in the Rhine-Main Region and trial hydrogen-powered fuel cell cars in everyday use.

Infraserv Höchst builds a co-digestion plant in Industriepark Höchst. Every day, the plant converts the organic constituents of sewage sludge and organic waste into 30,000 cubic meters of biogas. Infraserv Höchst invests some EUR 15 million in the facility, the first of its kind to use industrial sewage sludge in the generation of biogas.

“Service. Excellence.” – This simple, yet powerful slogan is the central element of Infraserv Höchst’s new market image.

Infraserv’s new strategy is based on three pillars: efficiency, focus and growth. To support this strategic orientation effectively, it introduces a new organizational structure. Six independent business units are now responsible for their own profits: Utilities; Waste Management; Environment, Safety and Health (ESH); Facilities; Industrial Park Services; and Transport and Vehicle Services.

Infraserv Höchst’s new Commercial Vehicle Center goes into operation. The northern sector of the industrial site now has a high-performance cleaning facility for tank interiors and rail tank cars, tanker trucks and tank containers as well as workshops for rail vehicles, containers, trucks and forklifts. Infraserv Höchst invests around EUR 4.6 million in the project.

Infraserv Höchst optimizes its utilities: The company invests EUR 23.5 million in a new gas turbine with 40 MW of electrical capacity. This makes electricity and steam production at the combined heat and power plant even more efficient and environmentally friendly.

The new pharmaceutical water production plant at Industriepark Höchst goes into operation. This completes the ten-year-long modernization of the pharmaceutical water supply system at Industriepark Höchst. Nearly EUR 20 million was invested in this project.

Infraserv Höchst has invested around EUR 17 million in upgrading the central wastewater treatment plant at Industriepark Höchst. It goes into operation after one year of construction.

The history of Industriepark Höchst's industrial fire brigade stretches back 125 years. The first mention of a well-trained firefighting team from the former Meister Lucius & Brüning paint factory, which later became Hoechst AG, was made in 1875, when, according to the weekly periodical Wochenblatt für die Amtsbezirke Höchst, Hochheim und Königstein, the “firefighting team from the Meister, Lucius & Brüning aniline factory was the first to arrive at the scene of a fire in Sindlingen and actually did the most to manage the fire.” By 1880, the firefighting crew had become a factory fire brigade – the predecessor of today’s industrial fire brigade.

On September 1, 2004, Jürgen Vormann, Managing Director of Celanese Chemicals Europe GmbH, and Roland Mohr, Commercial Director of Research and Development and Coordinator of Clinical Development at Aventis Pharma Deutschland GmbH, were appointed Managing Directors of Infraserv Verwaltungs GmbH, a wholly owned subsidiary of Celanese AG. Among other things, Infraserv Verwaltungs GmbH is responsible for the operational management of Infraserv GmbH & Co. Höchst KG. Jürgen Vormann takes over as CEO from Dieter Kreuziger at the beginning of 2005.

The trimodal port on the southern bank of the Main River is completed. The EUR 13 million facility connects the road, rail and inland waterway transportation systems – hence the name "trimodal". The expansion enables large volumes of cargo to be shifted from trucks to more environmentally friendly trains and barges.

An office and functional building is constructed on the eastern periphery of Industriepark Höchst. Owing to its unusual shape, it is dubbed the "Ship on Stilts".

Infraserv Höchst builds a new multi-purpose laboratory building and a nine-story office building in the southern section of the park.

Infraserv Höchst’s new fuel-cell combined heat and power (CHP) plant is in continuous operation, providing 200 kilowatts of electricity and 220 kilowatts of heat. Its phosphoric acid fuel cells (PAFCs) take in hydrogen and electrochemically convert it into electricity and heat. This is an extremely efficient technology – roughly 80 percent of the energy input is converted to usable heat and electricity. Its other advantages include extremely low pollution and noise emissions. The innovative project represents around DM 1.5 million in investment.

A new Emergency Dispatch Center (EDC) is completed at a cost of more than DM 4 million. It combines previously separate dispatch centers operated by security services and the industrial fire brigade and uses state-of-the-art communications and information technology.

The 10,000-plus highly sensitive fire detectors at Industriepark Höchst are only part of the many detection systems that converge at the EDC. Employees at the new center also monitor the turnstiles, server cabinets, cooling systems in laboratories, the alarm and fence monitoring systems and the surveillance systems for the Main riverbank.

The large room with the oversized video wall is always staffed by four people at the same time. Up to 24 monitors can be read simultaneously or combined into one large screen to keep a close eye on what is happening.

In addition to monitoring, the EDC’s main job is to alert emergency services in and, if necessary, outside the industrial park. It can trigger sirens located at the industrial park or in nearby neighborhoods. It also provides automatic phone notifications to daycare centers, schools, hospitals, nursing homes and other facilities that require special protection.

Infraserv GmbH & Co. KG, the operator of Industriepark Höchst, positions itself with a new process-driven, customer-centric corporate structure and strives to attain industry leadership as an industrial site operator. The new structure and the evolution into an integrated site operator are reflected in a new corporate image. Site tenants invest a total of over EUR 350 million this year.

Managing Director Alexander Dahmen retires, while Peter Schuster leaves the management team. Dieter Kreuziger becomes the new Managing Director of Infraserv Höchst.

At 167 meters, it is the tallest structure at Industriepark Höchst in Frankfurt am Main – and even taller than the Ulm Minster: the smokestack of InfraServ Höchst’s power plant, which was built in 1982. Its 4,200-square-meter exterior gets a new design during a routine renovation of the reinforced concrete shaft and the 10-meter-high stack head. The colorful smokestack lives on as a a landmark of Industriepark Höchst.

InfraServ Höchst's 4,200 employees generate sales of DM 1,320 million in the first nine months. It is on track to generate sales of more than DM 1.8 billion and an operating profit (a surplus from business operations) of about three percent in its first fiscal year. Peter Schuster comes aboard the management team of InfraServ Verwaltungsgesellschaft on September 1, 1998, and joins Alexander Dahmen in managing InfraServ Höchst.

The new hydrogen gasometer on the south side of Industriepark Höchst goes into operation after about a year of construction. InfraServ Höchst can supply some 50 million cubic meters of hydrogen annually, making it the only large-scale supplier in the Rhine-Main Region.

The visitor’s center at the East Gate has been fully renovated and now features a new, more modern look. Around 700 people enter and leave the industrial park every day on average.

After a year of renovations, InfraServ Höchst’s command center moves to the industrial fire brigade’s completely refurbished Building C 299 in the western sector of Industriepark Höchst. Industriepark Höchst’s emergency response organization can be centrally steered from this location in the event of an incident.

Hoechst AG is transformed into a strategic management holding company with operationally independent subsidiaries. After acquiring 100 percent of the French pharmaceutical subsidiary Roussel-Uclaf, Hoechst Marion Roussel (HMR) is formed as an independent pharmaceutical company.

The Höchst site becomes an industrial park, whose operator, InfraServ GmbH & Co. KG, also welcomes independent companies outside the Group to the site. By 1997, Industriepark Höchst features 30 companies with more than 20,000 employees and over 100 production facilities.