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1925-1944

Author Name, ProPublica

2022-01

BASF builds on its expertise in the Haber-Bosch process and finds additional areas of application for high pressure technology: the hydrogenation of coal to generate synthetic fuel and the production of synthetic rubber (Buna). These activities are carried out within IG Farbenindustrie Aktiengesellschaft, formed by the merger of BASF and five other major chemical companies in 1925.

Economic recovery is hindered by continuous political unrest, reparation obligations, the dismantling of factories, a lack of coal, transportation problems, the French occupation of the west bank of the Rhine River, and the establishment of a customs barrier on the Rhine. Representatives of the major chemical companies meet to discuss intensifying the loose form of cooperation established in 1916. They agree to carry out the necessary streamlining of production and sales jointly. In 1925, the merger of BASF with five other companies (including Hoechst and Bayer) to form the IG Farbenindustrie Aktiengesellschaft is finalized. In late 1925, BASF is absorbed into IG Farben. The new company’s headquarters are moved to Frankfurt. The Ludwigshafen and Oppau sites form the main part of the Oberrhein Operations Union, one of the four original IG Farben operating units.

Nitrophoska is registered as a trademark with the German Patent Office in 1926. The name reflects the three most important plant nutrients: nitrogen, phosphate and potassium (“Kalium” in German). The fertilizer represents something completely new because the concentration of nutrients is two to three times higher than in existing multicomponent fertilizers.

A year later, Nitrophoska is launched on the market. Because each grain of fertilizer has a homogeneous composition, it solves earlier problems encountered when mixing various synthetic fertilizers.
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