Sinteranlage Duisburg
THE ABANDONED FACTORY IN GERMANY
This ‘Sinteranlage Duisburg’ was abandoned in 1995 when the Duisburg steel industry stopped. 4.000 tons of sinter was produced daily.
The site was used industrially since 1910 for dumping slag. The Sinteranlage site is built in 1955. It was expanded twice in its first decade of operation and employed about 100 workers. This sinter plant is close to the old blast furnaces of the Duisburg area. A total of 100 employees ensured smooth production in three shifts. 36 locksmiths and 15 electricians were used for maintenance.
Sintering is a method for making objects from powder by heating the material. As a result the whole plant is covered in the dark brown powder dust. The final product are pellets, a sort of small brittle balls, which are added to the ore in the blast furnace. Sintering plants are a result of the process optimization, which made blast furnaces in the course of the years more productive and environmental better.
1995
The steel mills sold the plant during an international steel crisis in 1983 to a slag processing company. The company went bankrupt in 1995. During my visit some of the machines are already gone, but the big machines are still inside. Rusty stairs take us many floors up and give us great views over the plant. I visited the ‘Sinteranlage Duisburg’ in 2007. The site was demolished in 2010.
