SOLVAY : SOLVAY LAUNCHES PROJECT TO BUILD AN EPICHLOROHYDRIN PRODUCTION PLANT IN CHINA

Press release
 
Embargo: Brussels, December 14, 2010, at 8.00 a.m. (Brussels time)
 
Construction site reserved, letter of intent signed with SP Chemicals to secure
                              raw materials supply
 
Solvay announces that it is studying the construction of an epichlorohydrin
production plant in Taixing, China, with an initial capacity of 100,000 tons per
year.  The plant, which is expected to start producing in 2013, will be based on
Solvay's innovative Epicerol(®) technology.  The company has already reserved a
construction site in Taixing Economic Development Park.
 
The plant is set to serve the rapidly growing Chinese epichlorohydrin market,
which currently represents 29% of the world market.  Epichlorohydrin is an
essential feedstock for the production of epoxy resins, increasingly used in
applications such as corrosion protection coatings as well in the electronics,
automotive, aerospace industry or wind turbine industry.
 
"We look forward to serving the largest epichlorohydrin market in the world, by
bringing the benefits of our environmental sustainable technology based on a
renewable resource as raw material, to China", comments Filipe Constant, General
Manager of the Solvay Business Unit Electrochemistry and Derived Specialties.
 "By investing in a world-class Epicerol(®) plant in China, Solvay reaffirms it
is a key player in this business", adds Bruno Jestin, Head of the Business Unit
Organic Products of Solvay's Strategic Business Unit Electrochemistry and
Derived Specialties.
 
Solvay's Epicerol(®) technology is based on the transformation of glycerin
obtained as by-product from the production of biofuels out of vegetable
renewable oils.  Production of biofuels and thus glycerin as byproduct is
expected to continue to show strong growth.  In order to secure supply of other
raw materials for the plant, Solvay has signed a letter of intent with SP
Chemicals Taixing, a large chemicals producer, to study the feasibility of a
chlor-alkali supply by SP Chemicals.
 
Compared to the traditional propylene based production process of
epichlorohydrin, the Epicerol(®) technology reduces the energy consumption and
greenhouse gas emissions by 70%, divides water consumption by ten while dividing
the volume of chlorinated by-products by eight.  This technology is protected by
38 patent families, many of them already granted in China and in other
countries.
 
SOLVAY is an international industrial Group active in Chemistry.  It offers a
broad range of products and solutions that contribute to improving quality of
life.  The Group is headquartered in Brussels and employs about 17,000 people in
40 countries.  In 2009, its consolidated sales amounted to EUR 8.5 billion.
Solvay is listed on the NYSE Euronext stock exchange in Brussels, Belgium (NYSE
Euronext: SOLB.BE - Bloomberg: SOLB.BB - Reuters: SOLBt.BR). Details are
available at www.solvay.com.
 
For further information please contact:
 
ERIK DE LEYE
Corporate Press Officer
SOLVAY S.A.
Tel: +32 2 509 7230
erik.deleye@solvay.com
www.solvaypress.com
 
PATRICK VERELST
Head of Investor Relations
SOLVAY S.A.
Tel. +32 2 509 7243
patrick.verelst@solvay.com
www.solvay-investors.com
 
806183_HMCPG7R2_20101214EN: 
http://hugin.info/133981/R/1471852/408488.pdf
 
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Source: Solvay S.A. via Thomson Reuters ONE
 
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