Press release:

 

Diemen, the Netherlands; 8 September 2008 - CSM nv subsidiary PURAC and Sulzer Chemtech have jointly developed a new cost effective polymerization  process to produce high quality Poly-Lactic Acid (PLA). The new process relies upon proprietary and jointly developed polymerization and devolatilization technology to efficiently produce a range of PLA products from the specialty Lactides supplied by PURAC. PURAC and Sulzer Chemtech signed a joint cooperation agreement for the development and sharing of this technology.

 

Poly-Lactic Acid is a bioplastic made from biorenewable raw materials like carbo-hydrates. PURAC offers the lactide monomers as polymerization feedstock and in cooperation with Sulzer the polymerization technology to make PLA.

 

This offering will significantly reduce the process and product development time thereby enabling faster and more reliable market entry for PLA producers. The new process requires substantially less investment and has unmatched potential for economic scale-up to high volumes.

 

The first plant to use this new technology will be built by Synbra in the Netherlands for the production of BIOFOAM ®, a foamed product made from this PLA, complementary to their wide range of polystyrene foam products offered today. The new plant with a capacity of 5,000 ton/year is targeted to be operational by the end of 2009. Synbra intends to assume a leading position in Europe as supplier of biologically degradable polymers from renewable sources and plans to expand the PLA capacity to 50,000 ton/year.

 

By the end of 2008, a demonstration and product development plant will be available exclusively to partners of PURAC, to facilitate both product and process development to meet various application and customer demands. The demonstration plant will be located at Sulzer Chemtech in Winterthur, Switzerland.

 

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For more information, please contact:

Press & Analysts: Ian Blackford, Investor Relations Manager, tel. +31 (0)20 5906349 / mobile +44 (0)7767 227506

 

Background information:

 

About PURAC

PURAC has over 70 years of experience, owns many patents and is the global market leader in lactic acid. PURAC owns state-of-the-art lactic acid plants located in areas with favorable carbohydrate feedstock.  The latest addition has been a 100,000 ton plant in Thailand that became operational November 2007. PURAC produces biomedical PLA, a quality that is used in the medical industry.

 

PURAC (a CSM company) has net sales of over € 300 million and a workforce of around 1,000 employees. PURAC operates in Europe, North America, Latin America and Asia. For more information: www.purac.com

 

About Sulzer Chemtech

Sulzer Chemtech is a market and technology leader in the area of Static Mixing and Reaction Technology with some 100,000 references over a wide range of applications such as polymer production, polymer finishing, plastics processing and broader chemical process industries. With global footprint related to sales, engineering, fabrication and customer services Sulzer Chemtech serves the segments in the oil and gas, hydrocarbon processing, petrochemicals and polymer production industries.

 

Sulzer Chemtech is a division of Sulzer Corporation with annual sales of CHF 760 million and over 2,400 people worldwide. For more information: www.sulzerchemtech.com

 

About Synbra

Synbra has a leading position in Europe regarding Expandable Polystyrene EPS for Sustainable Insulation Systems and Industrial Products & Solutions for a wide diversity of markets. Synbra Technology bv in Etten-Leur, the Netherlands, is the in-house polymerisation and R&D facility ‘Technology & Innovation’ and the centre of excellence in materials and product development. Recent examples of the Synbra group’s innovations are Xire,® incombustible polystyrene and BioFoam®. For more information:  www.xire.com, www.biofoam.nl,www.synbra.com

 

Synbra achieves a turnover of € 330 million with about 1,600 employees in the Netherlands, Germany, France, Denmark, the United Kingdom and Portugal.