Degussa BioRenewables Days / Renewable raw materials as alternatives to petrochemicals

Dusseldorf (ots) - The chemical industry already meets up to 8
percent of its demand for starting materials with renewable raw
materials. Strategies for gaining a further increase in this share,
and the technological tools that need to be developed for this
purpose, are the main topics of the BioRenewables Days of Degussa AG,
Dusseldorf, taking place today in Marl. 150 experts from politics,
industry and universities from Germany and abroad are meeting for a
day and a half to discuss perspectives on biorenewables in chemical
production. "The conversion from fossil starting materials to
renewable raw materials is one of the biggest challenges we face over
the next 50 years," said Dr. Alfred Oberholz, the Degussa Management
Board Member responsible for research and development. "The leaders
will be the companies and economies that develop alternatives to the
fossil-based economy early on, and promote technologies for using
renewable raw materials."

The BioRenewables Days focus on the technical, economic and
environmental aspects of the industrial use of biorenewables, as well
as natural oils and fats as starting materials for products such as
cosmetics. A third area of concern are new developments in white
biotechnology - ranging from enzymes and microorganisms that convert
raw materials such as sugar or starches into valuable chemical
building blocks, all the way to "bio-refineries." These use the
entire biomass of renewable raw materials, and convert them fully
into chemicals, active substances and fuels and gasoline.

The BioRenewables Days build on the work of the new Bio
Science-to- Business Center, which Degussa started on January 1, 2006
in Marl. The Group is investing 50 million euros over the next five
years in developing new biotechnological products and processes based
mainly on renewable raw materials together with university and
industry partners. The government of North Rhine-Westphalia is also
supporting Degussa's activities in white biotechnology, in the form
of a public-private partnership.

While the Center's approximately 60 employees primarily research
biotechnological processes, they also study ways of using
biorenewables in conventional chemical processes. They have extensive
experience to fall back on in both disciplines: Degussa already has a
whole series of products based on renewable raw materials, including
amino acids produced in fermentative processes, as well as the
gasoline additive ETBE, which the C4-Chemistry Business Unit has
manufactured from bioethanol and isobutene at the Marl site at a
capacity of 250,000 tonnes per year since the fall of 2005.

"To increase the use of renewable raw materials, however, we need
not only a large pool of methods, but also a capable research
network," says Oberholz. "All the players must work closely
together-chemists, biologists and process engineers, universities,
politics and industry. This is the basic idea behind our
science-to-business concept, and the Degussa BioRenewables Days help
us to implement this."

Degussa is the global market leader in specialty chemicals. Our
business is creating essentials-innovative products and system
solutions that make indispensable contributions to our customers'
success. In fiscal 2005 around 44,000 employees worldwide generated
sales of 11.8 billion euros and operating profits (EBIT) of 940
million euros.

Originaltext: Degussa AG
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Contact:
Hannelore Gantzer
Spokeswoman
Corporate Communications
T +49-211-65041-368
F +49-211-65041-527
hannelore.gantzer@degussa.com