or Association for Chemical and Metallurgical Production / Spolchemie

The establishment of the Austrian Spolek pro chemickou a hutní výrobu (Österreichischer Verein für Chemische und Metallurgische Produktion, or Association for Chemical and Metallurgical Production) in Ústí nad Labem in 1856 was a turning point in the development of the chemical industry in the Czech lands. It launched the start of large-scale production and new technological processes. During its time the Association was the biggest chemical enterprise in the Austrian monarchy. Its laboratory, established in 1860, was the oldest in the monarchy. There is still an enterprise in Ústí bearing the name of Spolchemie to this day.

The Association’s first products included chemicals for the glass and textile industries and for agriculture. The Association expanded rapidly and after it was merged with the Belgian firm Solvay & Cie it became the biggest chemical enterprise in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. After the Second World War the enterprise was nationalized and split, with its branch plants outside Ústí becoming independent. After the war it mainly produced synthetic resins, intended particularly for the manufacture of paints and bonding agents.

From 1860 the enterprise had its own laboratory, conducting research into technology for making use of waste from production, amongst other things. In 1899 it patented “Ústí Bell Electrolysis”, which made the enterprise self-sufficient in the production of basic raw materials. The laboratory played a major role in the development of organic paints from 1906. During the First World War a method to produce granulated coal for gas mask filters was developed there. After the Second World War one of the laboratory’s principal tasks was the production of aluminium-oxide-based corundum single crystals, synthetic sapphires, with those manufactured by Spolchemie being the purest in the world. The laboratory also developed the first Czechoslovak aerosol sprays (Biolit and Lybar). 

From 1952 part of the enterprise’s research was moved to the Research Institute of Inorganic Chemistry, which was housed in an old administrative building. One important step was the transformation of the enterprise’s laboratory into the Research Institute of Chemical Technology in 1964, with all of the plant’s 200 research workers transferred there. Research was conducted into a great many areas, including potential antimicrobial and hygienic treatments to textiles and the possible mass production of the surfactants used for cleaning and laundry detergents. The laboratory developed a tungsten powder used for alloy steel for the production of cannon barrels, and light bulb filaments. The Institute also developed synthetic rubies for lasers and satellite radars, worked on the development of synthetic resins, metal-complex dyes for dyeing wool, and dyes for synthetic substances. During the screening processes after the occupation of Czechoslovakia in August 1968 a number of specialists lost their jobs, and some of them emigrated. In 1970 the Research Institute was closed down and the overall scope of research went into decline. After 1990 Spolchemie was privatized and still exists today, despite considerable difficulties. Nowadays it specializes in the production of hydroxides, chlorine chemistry and synthetic resins. 

Kolektiv autorů: Dílo sedmi generací, 150 let Spolku pro chemickou a hutní výrobu v Ústí nad Labem. Ústí nad Labem 2008.
Der Österreichische Verein für chemische und metallurgische Poduction 1856–1906, Praha 1906.
Novák, M.: Mládí mezinárodního monopolu. Ústí nad Labem 1967.
Novák, M.: Vysoká hra. Působení mezinárodního chemického monopolu Spolek pro chemickou a hutní výrobu. Ústí nad Labem 1966.
Historie Spolchemie. URL: https://www.spolchemie.cz/cs/historie/ [30. 4. 2021].

The Area of Austrian Association for Chemical and Metallurgical Production in 1906. (Author: Municipal Museum of Ústí nad Labem. Collections.)

Fertilizer production in 1920 (Author: Municipal Museum of Ústí nad Labem. Collections.)

The new administrative building of the Association was built in 1930 in the architectural style of expressionism. It was the highest building in Czechoslovakia at the time. (Author: Municipal Museum of Ústí nad Labem. Collections.)

Work in a laboratory (1958) (Author: Municipal Museum of Ústí nad Labem. Collections.)

The new and the old administration building of Spolchemie (2020). (Author: AH)