INTRODUCTION
The leuna Factory of the I. G. Farbenindustrie A. G. situated near Merseburg, is the biggest heavy chemical plant in Germany and produces a very wide range of products, mainly based on hydrogen or hydrogen and carbon monoxide. Its principal products are ammonia, synthetic petrol derived from the hydrogenation of brown coal, and synthetic alcohols made from hydrogen and carbon monoxide.
The plant was fist visited on the 21st April 1945 by a team including E. Cotton, V. Haensel, E. B. Peck, P. K. Kuhne, H. M. Weir, L. L. Hirst, W. W. Odell, G. U. Hopton, H. Hollings, J. F. Ellis, and H. G. Simpson. It was again visited on the 8th-24th May 1945, by a combined British and American team consisting of R. Holroyd, M. A. G. Banks, D. A. Howes, A. J. V. Underwood, R. A. Taylor, W. F. Faragher, H. Schindler, and J. G. Allen. This team was later joined by J. F. Ellis and R. J. Morley.
A third visit with particular reference to catalyst manufacture was made by W. F. Faragher and W. A. Horne and the notes of these latest investigators have been taken into account in preparing the report.