Environmental Protection Cost 2005

Degussa invested a total of € 55 million on measures to protect the environment in 2005. Investment in integrated environmental protection measures decreased by 12 percent from € 25 million in 2004 to € 22 million in 2005. Spending on production-integrated environmental protection shows the extent to which expensive add-on end-of-pipe technologies are being replaced by more efficient systems. Investment in end-of-pipe technologies totaled € 33 million and was thus unchanged from the previous year. The figures stated here refer to worldwide expenditures and covered all environmental factors: water, soil, air and noise.

In one production plant in Wesseling, Germany, Degussa installed new pumps for organic media that operate without water seals. This has reduced the COD load of wastewater from the plant by more than 20 percent. The chemical oxygen demand (COD) indicates the total organic compounds in water. An air preheater in Yosu, South Korea was renewed. This recycles reaction heat generated in the production of carbon black and thus increases the yield of the oil feedstock. The Industrial Park in Wolfgang, Germany, invested in a new back pressure turbine for the boilerhouse which generates additional power for use in the Industrial Park by reducing steam pressure. A new process oil transfer heater will be a key source of energy for the production of raw materials for the coatings industry in the H12MDI plant currently under construction in Herne, Germany. It also includes an integrated incinerator for exhaust air and residues to generate energy for use in the production process.

Operating costs for environmental protection facilities were virtually unchanged at € 231 million in 2005 compared with € 239 million in 2004.