Approval for Ballast Water Management System

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

The final hurdle has been overcome for the SEDNA ballast water treatment system using PERACLEAN Ocean.The system, which was developed jointly by the German companies Hamann AG and Evonik Industries AG, has now also been granted Type Approval by the relevant national regulatory authority, the Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency. In April 2008 the system had already received Final Approval from the London-based International Maritime Organization (IMO), the UN agency responsible for all maritime traffic.

The system provides global shipping with an effective and environmentally sound process for preventing non-indigenous organisms from being introduced with the ballast water of ships.

With certification by the IMO and the national administration, this is the world's first system that complies with the IMO Convention on Ballast Water Management of 2004 and has obtained both, Basic and Final Approval for its active substance as well as for the entire system. The Convention stipulates that new small ships should be fitted with appropriate systems from the year 2010 onwards, and larger ships from 2012; older ships should be retrofitted by 2016 at the latest. This is no trivial undertaking: about 40,000 cargo ships currently sail the world’s seas, and about 800 new ships are put into service every year. Evonik has been active for many years in this new application area for active oxygen products. "The Type Approval is an important milestone and a great success for all the members of our project team," says Dr. Thomas Haeberle, head of Evonik’s Industrial Chemicals Business Unit.

The SEDNA (Safe, Effective Deactivation of Non-Indigenous Aliens) system developed by Hamann treats the water in several steps during the intake only. Initially, hydro cyclones are used to separate out the solid material by application of centrifugal forces. This eliminates large species and significantly reduces sediments, to which living organisms often attach themselves. A filter then removes all remaining particles larger than 50 micrometers (A micrometer is one millionth of a meter.). "This two-stage physical process ensures that the various types of solids in the water and a wide range of living organisms are effectively separated out," says Dr. Matthias Voigt, an executive board member responsible for research and development at Hamann.

This cleaned water is then disinfected with PERACLEAN Ocean, a special formulation of peracetic acid and hydrogen peroxide from Evonik, which is easily biodegradable. "Even at very low concentrations, our product shows excellent biocidal and fungicidal properties and is also effective over a wide range of temperature and pH," says Bernd Hopf, project manager at Evonik’s Global Competence Center Active Oxygens. In practice no more than 150 liters of PERACLEAN Ocean are needed for 1,000 metric tons of ballast water. Whatever the number and type of organisms, the ballast water satisfies the IMO Convention’s strict requirements after only 24 hours retention time in the tank.

The extend of the "stowaway" problem in ballast water is often underestimated. Experts regard it as one of the most important environmental topics, on par with global warming. The destruction of ecosystems by foreign invaders – whether viruses and bacteria, fungi, algae, or plankton – costs the U.S. alone approximately $138 billion every year. About 20 systems for treatment of ballast water are currently being developed worldwide, including those using physical methods such as UV-radiation, oxygen deprivation, or heating. So far, however, no other process has proved to be as effective and environmentally sound as the SEDNA system using PERACLEAN Ocean.

PERACLEAN® is a registered trademark of Evonik Industries AG or one of its subsidiaries and SEDNA® is a registered trademark of Hamann AG. Both are written in capital letters in texts.

Company information

Evonik Industries AG is the creative industrial group which operates in three highly profitable, promising business areas: Chemicals, Energy and Real Estate. Evonik is a global leader in specialty chemicals, an expert in power generation from hard coal and renewable energies, and one of the largest private residential real estate companies in Germany. Our strengths are creativity, specialization, continuous self-renewal, and reliability. Evonik Industries is active in over 100 countries around the world. In fiscal 2006 around 43,000 employees generated sales of € 14.8 billion and operating Profit (EBIT) of over € 1.2 billion. Evonik plans to enter the capital market in the first half of 2008.

Disclaimer

In so far as forecasts or expectations are expressed in this press release and where our forward looking statements concern the future, these forecasts, expectations and statements may involve known or unknown risks and uncertainties. Actual results or developments may vary, depending on changes in the operating environment. Evonik Industries AG assumes no obligation to update the forecasts, expectations or statements contained in this release.