ICIS Innovation Awards 2009 Winner Announcement

LONDON - ICIS (www.icis.com ), a leading global provider of news and information for the chemical and energy sectors, today announces the winners in the ICIS Innovation Awards 2009 (www.icis.com/awards ).

The annual awards are supported by Dow Corning (www.dowcorning.com ) as lead sponsor, with CRA International (www.crai.com/chemicals ) sponsoring the category for Best Product Innovation.

The winners of the four categories are:

Best Product Innovation: CECA/Arkema (France)

Best Innovation by an SME: Oxford Catalysts/Velocys (UK/US)

Best Business Innovation: DSM (Netherlands)

Best Innovation in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR): Tata Chemicals (India)

Lucite International (UK) was nominated for a special mention in the Best Product Innovation category.

Overall winner for 2009

The panel of five leading industry experts (see below) awarded CECA/Arkema the prize for best overall innovation.

This is the first year the ICIS Innovation Awards have selected an overall winner.

These five innovative companies were chosen as the best from the shortlist of 13 entrants, details of which were published earlier this year in the 3 August issue of ICIS Chemical Business ( www.icis.com/Assets/GetAsset.aspx?ItemId=23575 ).

Full details of the winning entries and interviews on innovation strategy with the two sponsors are published in today’s 19 October issue of ICIS Chemical Business (www.icis.com/v2/magazine/issue.aspx ).

(See below for full details of the winning innovations.)

GROWING SUPPORT FOR THE AWARDS

John Baker, who launched and runs the awards at ICIS, comments: “The Awards continue to grow. We were delighted to welcome CRA as an additional sponsor this year. Also, the expanded marketing for the Awards resulted in a record level of entries.

“The winning innovations illustrate once again the resourcefulness of the chemical industry in meeting the needs of its customers, end consumers and, increasingly, the environment. When innovations can simultaneously address business and environmental needs then the chemical industry really is a winner and shows itself to be part of the solution, not the problem,” added Baker.

Dr Stephanie Burns, chairman, president and CEO of Dow Corning, added: “Successful innovation takes courage. It requires a clear vision and a strategy. But more importantly it takes commitment and tenacity. The winners of these awards are proof of what can be achieved when a company makes innovation an integral element of its business and pursue that goal with steadfast determination and commitment.”

Dr Neil Checker, vice president for chemicals at CRA, noted: “We are particularly encouraged by the unprecedented number of high quality submissions … a fact that reinforces our view that innovation remains vibrant in the chemical industry despite the current industry environment.

“We would like to extend our congratulations to the winner, CECA/Arkema. Its surfactants for “greener roads” are an innovation, built on sound commercial and environmental advantages, which bring extensive collaborative technology developments to market.”

DETAILS OF THE WINNING ENTRIES:

Best product innovation/overall winner

CECA/Arkema - Formulations for “greener roads”

Surfactant formulations developed by the CECA subsidiary of France’s Arkema reduce energy consumption during road construction and improve working conditions and environmental impact in terms of emissions of carbon dioxide, dust, volatile organic compounds and nitrous oxides. They achieve this through control of the bitumen/aggregate interface structure in the asphalt, allowing it to be produced and laid on the road at much lower temperatures. Other important properties and the productivity of the construction process are retained or improved, and the amount of recycled asphalt in the mix can be increased.

Special mention

Lucite International - Alpha technology for production of methylmethacrylate

UK-based Lucite has developed and commercialized a novel process route to methylmethacrylate which has the potential to realize cost savings of over 40% compared to existing processes. The Alpha process uses readily available feedstocks, eliminates inventories of toxic and corrosive materials, and minimizes production of effluents and byproducts, thus virtually eliminating waste treatment costs. Lucite had to develop two new highly selective and active catalysts and a novel separation process to realize the process, which is now in use in a 120,000 tonne/year plant in Singapore.

Best innovation by an SME

Oxford Catalysts/Velocys - A microchannel reactor for the distributed production of third-generation biofuels

Production of liquid biofuels from waste feedstocks, including municipal waste, sounds attractive but the need to transport large volumes to a central facility is not environmentally sound. The UK’s Oxford Catalysts and its US subsidiary, Velocys, have developed a small-scale Fischer-Tropsch reactor and highly active catalyst that enable production of biofuels in situ, when processing just 500-2,000 tonnes/day of waste. Productivity in the micro-channel reactor is high and diesel and jet fuels should be economic to produce while oil is over $50/bbl. A pilot-scale unit has been built at Plain City, Ohio, US.

Best business innovation

DSM - Moving down the value chain with claryl - the picture glass

Having invented a one-step optical anti-reflective coating for float glass, DSM decided that instead of marketing the coating, it would enter the market itself with a branded mid-priced picture-framing glass to capture more of the value from the innovation. Extensive market research indicated a gap in the market and the launch has been so successful DSM has had to install further capacity. claryl picture-framing glass is now sold through 1,500 framing shops in 15 EU countries and a bid to enter the US market is underway. The original innovation came from DSM’s incubator unit.

Best innovative in CSR

Tata Chemicals - Greening of alkaline and saline sediments

Soda ash producer Tata Chemicals has reclaimed 22 acres (9ha) out of 30 acres of waste dumps near its site in Mithapur, Gujarat, India, to reduce dust generation that was affecting local inhabitants. For 20 years, the dust had been suppressed by spraying it with sea water, making the soil quality poor. Tata engaged The Energy & Resources Institute in Delhi, which identified the most suitable plants and developed a microorganism inoculation to help them extract nutrients from the poor soil. The plant selection was done in such a way that it can be irrigated with seawater. At the same time, Tata has introduced filtration technology to end disposal of soda ash effluent into settling ponds.

NOTES TO EDITORS

1. The awards are organized by ICIS, the chemical publishing arm of Reed Business Information, part of global publishing group Reed Elsevier.

2. ICIS is based in the UK, with offices in Sutton, Surrey. It also has offices in Singapore and New York and Houston in the US.

3. This is the sixth year of the awards. The originator and organizer of the awards is John Baker, the head of custom publishing at ICIS and a former editor of ICIS Chemical Business (formerly known as European Chemical News).

Contact: john.baker@icis.com; Tel: +44-20-8652-3153.

4. The awards have been sponsored for all six years by Dow Corning, which has a strong focus on innovation and R&D as part of its growth strategy.

5. This year, consultancy CRA International joined the awards as sponsor of the Best Product Innovation category.

6. The judges this year were:

Dr Neil Checker, vice president and head of the Europe and Middle East region for chemicals at CRA International

Paul Hodges, chairman, International eChem

Robert Kirschbaum, vice president of open innovation at DSM, in the office of the chief technology office

Dr Gernot Klotz, executive director for research and innovation at the European Chemical Industry Council (Cefic)

Dr Gregg Zank, vice president, chief technology officer and executive director of science and technology at Dow Corning

About Dow Corning

Dow Corning provides performance enhancing solutions to serve the diverse needs of more than 25,000 customers worldwide. A global leader in silicones, silicon-based technology and innovation, Dow Corning offers more than 7,000 products and services via the company’s Dow Corning and Xiameter brands. Dow Corning is a 50:50 joint venture between Dow Chemical and Corning. More than half of Dow Corning’s annual sales are outside the US.

www.dowcorning.com

About CRA International

Founded in 1965, CRA International is a leading provider of strategic consulting and economic and financial expertise. Headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, the US firm has more than 700 professional staff at its offices across North America, Europe, the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific region. It believes in using a combination of industry experience and rigorous, fact-based analysis in order to provide clients with clear solutions to complex business problems.

The chemical practice applies keen insight and rich experience across the industry, from upstream petrochemicals and polymers to downstream specialty chemicals and materials. CRA specializes in the fields of strategy, technology management, mergers and acquisitions (M&A), performance improvement and organization restructuring.

www.crai.com/chemicals

About ICIS

ICIS is the world’s largest information provider for the chemical and energy industries. It aims to help companies in global commodity markets improve their revenues and profits by providing high quality, timely, commercially useful information, business leads and brand positioning across the globe. Global team of around 200 people based in London, Houston, Singapore, New York, Washington, San Francisco, Shanghai, Moscow and Mumbai strive to bring definitive global chemical intelligence.

ICIS is part of Reed Business Information (RBI), a division of Reed Elsevier, the world’s leading publisher and information provider. RBI publishes over 100 market leading publications, directories and online services, and organizes numerous industry conferences and awards.

www.icis.com

CONTACTS FOR FURTHER INFORMATION: The winning companies can be contacted as follows: CEA/Arkema Gilles Barreto, head of performance products Email: gilles.barreto@arkema.com Tel: +33-4-72-39-88-22 Oxford Catalysts/Velocys Derek Atkinson, business development director Email: derek.atkinson@oxfordcatalysts.com Tel: +44-1235-841700 DSM Inge Massen, branding and communications manager Email: inge.massen-biemans@dsm.com Tel: +31-46-476-3559 Tata Chemicals Hemalekha Balu, assistant manager - technical services Email: hemalekha@tatachemicals.com Tel: +91-2892-665337 Lucite International Dr Ben Harris Email: ben.harris@lucite.com Tel: +44-1642-447113 The sponsors and organizer can be contacted as follows: Dow Corning Karen Heenan-Davies, global external communications manager Email: karen.heenan_davies@dowcorning.com Tel: +44-1446-723498 CRA International Jamie O’Riordan, marketing manager Email: joriordan@crai.com Tel: +1-617-425-3701 The organiser: ICIS John Baker, global editor, custom publishing E-mail: john.baker@icis.com Tel: +44-20-8652-3153

Source: ICIS Innovation Awards 2009

CONTACTS FOR FURTHER INFORMATION: The winning companies can be contacted as follows: CEA/Arkema, Gilles Barreto, head of performance products, Email: gilles.barreto at arkema.com,Tel: +33-4-72-39-88-22; Oxford Catalysts/Velocys, Derek Atkinson, business development director, Email: derek.atkinson at oxfordcatalysts.com, Tel: +44-1235-841700; DSM, Inge Massen, branding and communications manager, Email: inge.massen-biemans at dsm.com, Tel: +31-46-476-3559; Tata Chemicals, Hemalekha Balu, assistant manager - technical services, Email: hemalekha at tatachemicals.com, Tel: +91-2892-665337; Lucite International, Dr Ben Harris, Email: ben.harris at lucite.com, Tel: +44-1642-447113; The sponsors and organizer can be contacted as follows: Dow Corning, Karen Heenan-Davies, global external communications manager, Email: karen.heenan_davies at dowcorning.com, Tel: +44-1446-723498; CRA International, Jamie O’Riordan, marketing manager, Email: joriordan at crai.com, Tel: +1-617-425-3701; The organiser:, ICIS, John Baker, global editor, custom publishing, E-mail: john.baker at icis.com, Tel: +44-20-8652-3153