ICI Billingham Division
1920 Brunner, Mond and Co succeeded in making ammonia from atmospheric nitrogen, first in a pilot plant at Winnington. By arrangement with the Government, Brunner Mond formed Synthetic Ammonia and Nitrates Ltd. to build and operate a factory at Billingham to make ammonia, principally to provide a key feedstock for explosives but also to make ammonium sulphate fertiliser; the part-built plant was acquired from the Ministry of Munitions. [1] This later became the Billingham Division of ICI.
1926 at the end of the year, the company operating the Billingham factory, Synthetic Ammonia and Nitrates Ltd, was taken into the new Imperial Chemical Industries Ltd as a subsidiary of Brunner Mond.
Post-WWI the main use of ammonia was in the manufacture of fertilizers which became the core of Billingham production, which also included sulphuric, nitric and phosphoric acids, methanol and carbon dioxide.
Billingham's basic process was the production of hydrogen which was then reacted to make saleable products, such as fertilisers and industrial nitrogen products, methanol and petrol.
1931 Synthetic Ammonia and Nitrates was renamed ICI (Fertilizer and Synthetic Products) Ltd
1935 The coal hydrogenation plant was completed at Billingham; petrol production began mid-year.[2]
WWII The petrol plant at Billingham was run to produce aviation spirit from creosote; the ammonia made there was used for fertilisers and industrial products under the direction of the Ministry of Supply.
1944 ICI (Fertilizer and Synthetic Products) Ltd. was renamed the ICI Billingham Division
Other divisions of ICI built plants at Billingham for the manufacture of sodium, chlorine, Nylon and plastics. At one time Billingham was the largest chemical factory in the British Commonwealth and, at its peak, employed 16,000 people.
post-WWII ICI set up a new site further down the River Tees at Wilton, connected to the Billingham site by a tunnel under the river carrying pipelines; all the divisions of ICI were invited to build plants there - see Wilton Works. It was very successful, at one time employing a similar number of people to the peak employment at Billingham.
Whereas Billingham had been based on coal, both as a source of energy and as a major process feedstock, Wilton was based on petroleum chemicals as feedstock. By mid-century coal-based processes were uneconomic; the change first to naphtha and then to natural gas had a major effect on the Billingham site. The old plants, many of which dated from the founding of the site in the early 1920s, were demolished and replaced. The number of people employed fell dramatically with the introduction of large single-stream plants.
1957 the Billingham Division was split into two:
- One, which continued to be called the Billingham Division, dealt primarily with ammonia and fertiliser products (ICI Agricultural Division)
- The other, the Heavy Organic Chemicals Division, dealt with organic products derived in the first instance from the oil crackers at the company's Wilton Works
1958 ICI acquired the crop protection interests of Cooper, McDougall and Robertson and acquired Plant Protection Ltd
1963 Plants in the Division were at:[3]
- Billingham
- Heysham
- Severnside
- and plans for a new ammonia plant at Immingham
By 1975, with the availability of North Sea Gas at low cost on long-term contract, the fertilizer division enabled ICI to produce ammonium nitrate at well below market price. By 1975, ICI controlled over half of the British market.
1986 Became part of the new Chemicals and Polymers group[4]
See Also
Sources of Information
- [2] ICI Archive in the North East