"STATE INSTITUTE FOR APPLIED CHEMISTRY (GIPKH INSTITUTE), LENINGRAD"

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP81-01028R000100100015-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 12
• Document Creation Date: December 14, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 21, 2001
• Sequence Number: 15
• Publication Date: May 22, 1954
• Content Type: REPORT

Approved For Release 2001/085'R IG~iA' p1028R0001001000
CERTRALJNTELLIGENCE AGENCY
INFORMATION REPORT
COUNTRY USSR
SUBJECT State Institute for Applied Chemistry
(GIPKh Institute), Leningrad
25X1A PLACE
ACQUIRED
DATE
ACQUIRED BY SOURCE
.25X1 C
DATE OF INFORMATION o May 1951
THIS DOCUMENT CONTAINS INFORMATION AFFECTING THE NATIONAL DEFENSE
OF THE UNITED STATES, WITHIN THE MEANING OF TITLE 19. SECTIONS 793
AND 794, OF THE U.S. CODE, A9 AM EHOED. ITS TRANSMISSION OR REND.
CATION Oi ITS CO:. EN T9 TO OR RECEIPT BY AN UHAUTNORIOED PERSON 19
PROHIBITED BY LAWTHE REPRODUCTION OF THIS FORM 19 PROHIBITED.
25X1X
NO. OF PAGES 7
NO. OF ENCLS. 4
(LISTED BELOW)
SUPPLEMENT TO
REPORT NO.
25X1X SOURCE
This is the third report and further 25X1A
exploitation is being conc ea0 es for further
information can be accepted.
the Chemistry Group was assigned to work at the 1A
State Institute for Applied Chemistry (GIPKh) in Leningrad, US
This Institute was attached to the Ministry of Chemical Indust
and. received the directives for its work directly from Moscow. =
The German personnel continued to live in Sestroretsk
IRM NO. 51-4F
CT 1951
GIPKh Institute
Approved For Release 2001/08/02: CTA=RDA "T-o f028R000100100015-3
 Approved For Release 2001/08/02 CIA-RDP81-01028R000100100015-3
SECRET/SECURITY INFORMATION
-2-
25X1A
and commuted daily to Leningrad.
2. The GIrKh Institute is located on an island, not far from the
.Peter and Paul Fortress Liee Enclosure (A), point lJ; the
address is Vadni-Ostrov No 2. The Institute covers an area
approximately 600 x 300 meters and, on the side away from the 25X1A
Neva River,, was surrounded by a high barbed wire fence.Lee 25X-1A
Enclosure (B)--Layout of the GIPKh Tnstitute7
The Institute was divided into four main functional divisions
See Enclosure(C}--Organization Char:
(a) General Research Laboratories (for chemistry and
physics)
(b) A Pilot Plant (in which most of the German technicians
were employed,
25X1A
(c). A Drafting and Design Office (employed about 120 people)
approximately 1000-1200'people were employed at GIPK1
number includes eight German technicians).
many buildings were renovated or newly constructed,
had previously housed a state brandy factory;
(d)
There were also some smaller units which were kept very secret
and about which I have no information.
The Plant Control Section contained a large mechanical work-
shops, which - was .yell supplied with German tools and 25X1A
ma.ckines.. In addition, there were: a large electrical work- 25X1A
sh?p,.a glass blowing shop, one installation for the production
of 'compressed air and two boiler houses.
noted, found boxes containing critical
was assigned ten hygrome ers,w ereae, ere we on
these instruments in the entire Leuna Plant.
such instruments and put them to more general uses.
somewhat at random,
been crated and shipped to Leningrad where they were distribu
or r4nese ' were nsranaara n rumen , ror e p mp e
recorders and regulators, quantity measuring instruments,
pressure gauges and pressure regulators, density recorders and
various instruments used for analyses. These instruments had 25X1A
been seriously damaged in transit to the USSR. They had merely
instrumer s w o a never een unpacked
erman stanaarqs, were very poorly trainea.. slowly, rnowever, they
learned their trade and the work proceeded more smoothly.
Occasionally, a very urgently needed instrument could be procured
directly from Germany. a Soviet off
wept back to Leuna and brought a desired instrument by plane.)
25X1A y the middle 11 the standard instruments used in laMA
chemical installations were repaired, procured or constructed,
and calibrated. By that time, due to the increased demands
made on the Institute,
from the original staf
25X1A' further details on the origin an n-s or instruments used, see
Report
S QRET
Approved For Release 2001/08/02 : CIA-RDP81--0i o28Ro0O10D'1000'15-3
 Approved For Release 2001/08/02 : CIA-RDP81-01028R000100100015-3
La to
SECRE2T/SECURITY INFORMATION
-3-
25X1A
6 ;, This laboratory designed and operated .a pilot plant for the
s$"' Ahesis' of ethylamines from ammonia and ethyl alcohol. The
8dv$ets,planned to use the results of tests conducted in this'
.aboratgry in constructing a large. chemical plant at
Dz'e zhinskk (5030 091 N - 27? 56t . E). The Soviet personnel at
Laboratory 579 included:
Servyelski
Merv
Geellni.
Sklovaki
Hofer high pressure compressors which had been brough'b fro*
Leuna, The laboratory had also set up two small distillation
oalumns. Soviet safety engineers checked the German pressure
tests before permitting operation of any high pressure equipment,
Originally the Soviets had estimated that the installation and
preliminary testing would take three months. -Lack-of proper
materials and poor training of the Soviet Der. sonn.e1. caused so many
delays that almost two years had passed before this ?installatian
began to function in the spring of 1948, There were frequent
discussions coiacerning these delays between a German. engineer,
Ernst Otto and a Soviet en ineer SklovskiA As the spoke in
Directed construction.:
:.Dr Chemistry Georg Peinze Worked at'Leuna in the production,
of amines until that sects
Dr Chemistry Karl Sme
rka . the plant had been destroyed ] y
{
O? phi's ;lining was. 4o 5o mm in diameters: There were two
other suitable non-corrosive metal was put into these ovens which
s4 J.d be used under 250 atmospheres at temperatures as high as
bombing,
this laboratory was equipped with standard pressure equipment
brought from Leuna and which was designed for 250 atmospheres.
he six contact ovens or reactors were made of N-8 steel. (This
s high grade plated steel, very. resistant to-heat.,and. 1
pressure,) These reactors were more than one meter high and.90 mm
ift diameter. A sleeve or lining of V- #-A steel, V-2-A steel, or
A chemistry student from Leningrad who directed
research. He had previously worked in the Sl
laboratory at Leuna.
Chief Technician and Servyelskisa deputy.
Technical Director.
Construction Engineer, who was apparently
destined to be the constructor in. charge of
the Dzerzhinsk chemical plant,:
specialists at Laboratory 579 were:
Ing Ernst Otto
Three German
German, Early in
1948 Sk - erected at
Dzherzhinsk was about one year behind schedule. Sklovski com-
.plained in particular about some special pumps.made?at
Pzheszhinsk which had failed to pass the tests; he was also
aye8 because the foundations for'.these pumps had' .been made' .in .a
:'aulty manner--and that because of this failure, the entire
?;.nstallation was being held up.
SECRET
Approved For Release 2001/08/02: CIA=RDPBT--01028R000'l001-00015-3
 Approved For Release 2001/08/02, CIA-RDP81-01 028R000100100015-3 25X1A
SECRET/SECURITY INFORMATION
25X1A
the names of the following personnel employed in
,
oratory 575:
Soviets: NOS k Research Director
ev Chemistry student and technician
M=e ev constructor and technician
Germans; Dr Gerhardt.Geiseler
Dipl Ing ErnsT 0 to
SECRET
Pe'inze and Smeykal tilled the ovens or.reactors with the catalyst
;ne processes at Laboratory 579 with accuracy,
said then added the reactants which were liquids. or gases. This
was done in a room that was closely guarded, At first, experi-..
ments were made with pressures ranging between 50-250 atmos-
pheres. Most of the work was done at 50 atmospheres., Mono-
ethyl amine, di-ethyl amine and tri-ethyl?amine were produced
by reacting ethyl alcohol and ammonia over kaolin and water
glass dehydration catalysts. The amount of liquid poured through'
the reactors was about 100 cubic centimeters per hour, The first
tests were made with contact. catalysts brought from Leuna. The
later tests, made with Soviet catalysts, were very unsatisfactory..
Many-of the tests had to be repeated a number of times because of
mistakes made by the poorly trained. Soviet workers. In the
beginning, this led to endless quarrels and disputes between the
people engaged in research, I believe that the tri-ethyl.amine
was the most satisfactory as a rocket fuel, Soviet engineer
Gennig, who at first worked in this laboratory, was later.,, assigned
to work in the rocket fuel testing installation,.
..Labo t 6oL - Amine Fuels
9.. This second research laboratory for amine fuels was entirely in
the hands of the Soviets. The personnel included:
Khakelson Constructors and
Zarichev
gereiski Research Director.
Albitski
Krichevkov.
Kolobev
Technicians
Measuring Instruments.
The equipment.in this laboratory consisted primarily of pumps, -
E'rest Ottq. The processes used were different from those in
I boratQrr,5?9. The. reaction was started in a coil, 30-4 meters
long- and which had an inner diameter of .about 2.0 mm, This
process had many technical drawbacks and repairs were very
t'requent. Approximately 100-200 liters of the solution went
through the. pipes daily, The pipes rarely lasted more. than a
few weeks , and often only a few days, before they .. had to be re-
paired due to' corroslgn, Salt, deposited in the tubes, had to-be
.removed with a special apparatus which was more often in repair
than in use. l only set up, the measuring instruments in this
laboratory--the instruments were serviced, after having been set
ups by a Soviet, Kolobev.
Laboratory 5575 - Nitration
Approved For Release 2001/08/02 : CIA-RDP81-0102'8R000100100015-3
 Approved For Release 2001/08/02: CIA-RDP81-01028R000100100015-25X1A
SECRET/SECURITY INFORMATION
-5-
For:safety reasons, this laboratory had been built in a concrete
room. The main equipment consisted of-. containers of material,
pre-heaters, reactors and coolers. The work was divided into two
separate operations--one for liquids and one for gases. After a
few explosions and unsuccessful experiments, the liquid phase
nitration worked very well, The gaseous process was used in the
nitration of methane with nitric acid and operated at a pressure
of three atmospheres and at temperatures' up to 4300 C, The
reaction took place in, a pipe which was about, five meters long
and about 4 mm in diameter. After a few hours of operation, the
rpadtion tubes were so heavily corroded that work had to be
.suspended. In order to decrease this heavy corrosion, all avail-
able materials for the reaction chambers were tried, but without
success.
reactor, c U V7 , do-not know the
results. Most of the nitro-methane produced was tested and then
used as a solvent in the laboratory. In addition to the corrosion
element, the uniform addition of acid caused great difficulty; I
heard. that Otto was planning some new apparatus to solve this
problem. Dr Geiseler told me that this two-stage process of
nitration was based on American technical literature.
LAoratory 601 25X1A
11. Gofman was the Soviet technician. in charge of this installati2o5~Ci1A
existed in the Institute before our arrival, were torn down and
replaced by .these new Installations in 1949-50. Judging from the
Soviet technicians
e raring witn some very corrosive pro ucts which may have
been hydrofluoric acid, and the end product may have been Freon,
12.
the final product may have
mention that name', which was
ere was a supply of freon in the workshop of the
er and this su'pnly was brought. in from the vicinity
of,Laboratory 601.
There were three containers, A, B. and Co and four receivers,
D. All containers and receivers had a capacity of about 40
liters each. I believe that all of these containers were made
.of V-2-A material and that container B. a reactor, was lined
with lead, A liquid from container A, heated electrically, was
fed by gravity Into reactor B.' Another liquid, in steel
container C, was vaporized by heating with, water and steam.
The vapors were passed into reactor B which was maintained at
about 2000 C by an electric heating Boil. Reactor B was
equipped with a 2500 C thermometer and a metal float with an
iron staff, about one meter long, attached. The level of the
liquid in the reactor was indicated by a meter which recorded
changes in a magnetic field caused by the movement of the iron
staff into and out of that field. The reaction product distilled
from the top of reactor Band the vapors were condensed by
passing them downward through H. coil cooled to -270 C and
collected in receiver D. When the reaction did not proceed
properly, a white crystalline product formed in reactor Band
in the line between A and B, but never in the line between C
and B. This deposit had to be melted with a blowtorch applied
to the outside of reactor B. Sometimes the line between A and
B was disconnected at B and the solid producted removed from
Approved For Release 2001/08/02 : CIA-RDP81-01028R000100100015-3
 Approved For Release 2001/08/02 : CIA-RDP81-01028R000100100015-3 25X1A
SECRET/SECURITY INFORMATION
25X1A
25X1A
it..
this white crystalline product was,
a the reactants and the final product were.
be eve a cylinder C may have contained hydrofluoric
acid or fluorine. The pressure gauge over this cylinder was
rapidly'corroded and the outside of the cover glass to the
gauge was etched. white in about two days and had to be dis-
carded, t soon 25X1A
became clou ana --_a 75 De _._sca - = 713M ---- o ng the
pleliglass with oil prolonged its usefulness slightly. The
thermometer, used for holding the condenser coil at .27o C, was
tested in freon. ZC-hemical handbooks give a boiling point of
-280 C for difluorodichloromethane (freon)_7 The corrosion in
(a) Rocket Fuel Testing Installation:
This unit was entirely Soviet-operated. Spak directed
research; his, assistants were engineer Gennig and/
some Air-Force and Navy officers. Approximately 2 (1A
people were employed in this project which was ho
in a concrete bunker on the banks of the Neva Ri
particuiariy a pressure recoraer, ou1..z wszn a .scai.e
0-40 kg per sq cm and a chart speed of five seconds
per rotation. A Siemens osciliograph was set up
there in 1949. The tests which were conducted produced
a swishing noise, like steam escaping through.a valve,
and varied in intensity. In some ways it sounded like
an ordinary rocket used for fireworks,, The noise
lasted approximately four-five seconds, Sometimes,
over half a dozen of these noises per hour could be
,heard for eight hours; an other days, there was no
noise whatsoever.
(b) Acetylene Laboratory:
This unit was under the direction of Soviet techn
Rabkov, but he worked there only part of the time.
Dr D e -er von der Horst. a chemist.. was the, onl.v
nearly all the equipment used in this process.was very rapid.
Valves and lines had to be repaired or replaced almost daily.
Once a drop of liquid fell from an overhead pipe onto a worke
neck and the burn was so serious that it took six weeks to
heal.
-Other' Installations of the GIPKh Institute
23-=There were three other installations at the Institute about
which I know very little; I can give the following information
about them:
German working there,
Was a very small labor
instruments were used. an acetyl'e1A
generator, a distillation co umn an a compressor were
located in this laboratory,
Secret Project-.
This installation was classified top secret. Only one
man, Soviet worker Pitushln from Plant Control, was
admitted into this pr,~o jea: which I bel,ievve was the
catalyst section. I know nothing further about., this
project.
Approved For Release 2001/08/02 : CIA-RDP81-01028R000100100015-3
 Approved For Release 2001/08/02 : CIA-RDP81-01ti028R0001001100015-3
SECRE'/$,EOURITY INFORMATION
-7-
Security at the Institute
i4.
25X1A
25X1A the beginning of hen the various iaboratories were
finally. ready to more intensive research, supervision
became very strict. Our passes. were,. o llected ,at the entrance
and checked against a list` o. . = nnel working in the.
25X1A Institute. he female guards were
replaced by a e' could easily see,
however, that they all wore the same 1 nd.of black suits and
had pistols under their coats, We.w a not. permitted to
carry any sort,--of papers out of the gate. All Soviet personnel
who had been prisoners of war in Germany were withdrawn,. I was
told that they were all given menial, jobs in less critical
places,. A high barbed wire fence was erected.on the side
opposite the Neva River,. All of these.,.pecurity measures. were,
25X1A strictly enforced.
-end,
ENCLOSURE (A) Overlay of USAF Target Complox'Chart of Leningrad
Showing GIPKh and KhIMGI.- Iatitutes
ENCLOSURE (B) GIPKh Institute.
Part 1 - Layout
Part 2 - Legend
ENCLOSURE (C) Organization Chart of'. German and Soviet Personnel
Employed at GIPKh
ENCLOSURE (n)
Sketch of a Chemical Processrorrorred in Laboratory
6ol of the C TPKh Institut
SECRET
Approved For Release 2001/08/02 : CIA-RDP81-01028R000100100015-3
 Approved For Release 2001/08/02 : CIA-RDP81-01028#QOQ110Oflb1
SECRET`/SEC'URITZ. TWq jON
25X1A
OWLAY of USAF "TARGET. COMP-~t X r.. ..~~ _
ENIN'GPIAD
ENCZ,O$TJRE (A) Point 1 - GIPKh Instit tte..
Point 2 - KhIMGAS Institute
SECRET
Approved For Release 2001/08/02 : CIA-RDP81-01028R000100100015-3
 Approved For Release 2001/08/02 : CIA-RDP81-01028R000100100015-3
SECRET/SECURITY I iP'PRMAT ,pN :)::
ENCLOSURE (B)
Part 1 -, Layout of GIPKh Institute
SECRET
25X1.A
4i/CL, ..5
Approved For Release 2001/08/02 : CIA-RDP81-01028R000100100015-3
 Approved For Release 2001/08/02 : CIA-RDP81-01,028R000100100015-3
Point 1
Point 2
Point 3
Point 4
Point 5
Point 6
Point 7
Point 8
Point 9
Point 10
Point 11
Point 12
Point 13
Point 14
Point 15
Point 16
ENCLOSURE (,B)
Part 2 - Legend,
SECRET/SECURITY. NFQRM4TIO T .
25X1A
Living Quarters for Soviet personnel
Dispensary
Main Building, containing Soviet laboratories
Administration Building
Boiler Building,I
Technical InstalletiQn
Storage Building
"Secret" Technical Installation
Boiler Building II
Laboratories of German and Soviet scientists
Workshops (Electrical and Mechanical)
Rocket Fuel Testing Installation
Storage Building for eleotricaal equipment
Mesa Hall
Plant Control and Management. Department
Engineer Drafting and Designing Department
Accompanying Part 1, ENCLOSURE (B) - Layout
of GIPKh Institute
SECRET
Approved For Release 2001/08/02 CIA-RDP81-01028R000100100015-3
 Approved For Release 2001/08/02 : CIA-RDP81-01028R000100100015-3
MAnETAL
TBSTIYG
Wyazo-
mirksi
CAL
Serry-
elski
P3 COh ZR
usov
. Yiaphmog- _ti .,_
riaso' * -
KAQXSAWIL
Irfesuimritaubin
go1a Goi Odin
8v"et- Trooain
ADMINISTRATION
SIBF Of P RSONULr:..
Ylukov.
QBRUN n,PWOTBBL-
(Socy of, Trade union)
Sakharorov
ACBTYLM I" LlB 579 ~AB 6a1
RIabkov Servyels F*fm=
Yonder Horst* Yerchov
Gennig-
Sklovski
Peinze *
Sueyksl*
Otto
Lorenz
Approved For Release 2001/08/02 : CIA-RDP81-01028R000100100015-3
 Approved For Release 2001/08/02: CIA-RDP81-01028R000100100015-3 25X1 A
ENCLOSURE (D)
Con4eK4er Co111 held
at-27?G
SECRET/SECURITY INFORMATION
VA
Approved For Release 2001/08/02 : CIA-RDP81-01028R000100100015-3