Sintering plant

Christian Boltanski: The forced labourers. Small corridor with a pile of clothes at the end of the corridor.
Copyright: Weltkulturerbe Völklinger Hütte | Hans-Georg Merkel

Sintering plant | UNESCO Visitor Centre

Year of construction: 1928, added to in 1938
In operation: 58 years until the works were shut down

One of the largest sinter plants in Europe was built in Völklingen in 1928. Sintering is a high-temperature process that is used to fuse together the ore dust that is produced when iron ore is crushed for use in a blast furnace. This was done by heating it up to melting temperature. The material was then broken into pieces about the size of a fist, cooled, and reused in the blast furnace. This reduced the consumption of raw materials and improved the quality of the pig iron.

Iron ore sintering

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The plant was built by LURGI AG of Frankfurt, and operated in the American Dwight Lloyd process. In the 1930s, the sinter plant at Völklingen was one of the most productive in the world with a monthly output of 55,000 tons of sinter.

Sinteranlage Aussenansicht

L'installation de frittage, vue extérieure encadrée par des arbres
Copyright: Weltkulturerbe Völklinger Hütte | Karl Heinrich Veith

UNESCO Besucherzentrum

Blick ins UNESCO-Besucherzentrum
Copyright: Weltkulturerbe Völklinger Hütte | Karl Heinrich Veith

Modell der Völklinger Hütte

Survey model of the Völklingen Ironworks in the UNESCO Visitor Centre
Copyright: Weltkulturerbe Völklinger Hütte | Tom Gundelwein

Sinternanlage mit Foto des Kraftwerks Wehrden

Staircase of the sinter plant with a photo of the former Wehrden power plant
Copyright: Weltkulturerbe Völklinger Hütte | Karl Heinrich Veith

Sinteranlage Detail

Ascent to the maintenance level of the drive of the sinter belts
Copyright: Weltkulturerbe Völklinger Hütte | Karl Heinrich Veith

Sinteranlage Detail

Detailaufnahme vom Sinterband
Copyright: Weltkulturerbe Völklinger Hütte | Karl Heinrich Veith

Christian Boltanski | Die Zwangsarbeiter V

Christian Boltanski, The Forced Labourers. Small corridor with numbered archive boxes to the right and left
Copyright: Weltkulturerbe Völklinger Hütte | Hans-Georg Merkel

Sintergebläse

Right side of the blower hall of the sintering plant with two sinter blowers
Copyright: Weltkulturerbe Völklinger Hütte | Karl Heinrich Veith

Sintergeblaesehalle

The left side of the sinter blower hall with the screw-like blowers
Copyright: Weltkulturerbe Völklinger Hütte | Karl Heinrich Veith

impressionen 1 4

Impression from the sintering plant
Copyright: Weltkulturerbe Völklinger Hütte | Karl Heinrich Veith

Today, the complex houses the UNESCO Visitor Centre of the World Heritage Site Völklingen Ironworks. Visitors will find information there on UNESCO, UNESCO World Heritage Sites, the history of the Völklingen Ironworks, and the history of the sinter plant. The middle floor houses the large installation by Christian Boltanski entitled "Forced Labourers – Memorial at Völklinger Hütte".  The World Heritage Site Völklingen Ironworks has set up the permanent exhibition on the history of the Röchling family on the ground floor.