Minister for Economic Affairs, Ernst Schwanhold, among the first to offer his congratulations

One of Europe`s biggest and most modern dichloroethane/vinyl chloride plants in Knapsack near Cologne, was ceremoniously opened in the presence of North Rhine-Westphalia`s Minister for Economic Affairs, Ernst Schwanhold, on Thursday, April 11, 2002. Krupp Uhde designed and built the plant on a turnkey basis in a record time of only 20 months.

The new plant came on stream as early as the beginning of 2002. The expansion of the chlorine production capacity to 250,000 tonnes per year was also carried out by Krupp Uhde and was successfully handed over to Vintron in October 2001, two months ahead of schedule.

"Excellent technology coupled with sufficient engineering ability - that was what tipped the scales in Krupp Uhde`s favour in both cases," said Dr. Hermann Berwe, a member of Vintron GmbH`s Executive Board, during the press conference.

Ernst Schwanhold emphasised "the importance of this investment for Knapsack and the chemical processing state of North Rhine-Westphalia" with the words "nothing comes from nothing" and encouraged the company to invest the profit it makes in further sites.

Process chain (chlorine, EDC and VCM) from a single source. As a technology-driven engineering company Krupp Uhde uses its proprietary membrane process, a modular concept consisting of single elements, for the production of chlorine and caustic soda solution. It is extremely environment-friendly and energy-saving and has enabled Vintron to reduce its power consumption per tonne of chlorine by more than 10%. Krupp Uhde is one of the world`s leading suppliers in this field.

For the EDC/VCM plants Krupp Uhde used the Vinnolit process (formerly Hoechst process), which we license in conjunction with Vinnolit. Krupp Uhde is also one of the world`s leading companies in the construction of plants based on this process.

VCM in the form of PVC has a wide range of applications in the manufacture of pipes/tubes, casement sections, cable coating, bottles and containers.

Vintron GmbH, a wholly owned subsidiary of Vinnolit GmbH & Co. KG, has a workforce of some 270 employees and sales of approx. 190 million euros. The company is domiciled in Hürth-Knapsack near Cologne and produces various feedstocks for the chemical industry, including chlorine, caustic soda solution, hydrogen, dichloroethane and vinyl chloride.

Vinolit GmbH & Co. KG has a workforce of some 1,600 employees and with a capacity of 650,000 tonnes per year it is the leading manufacturer of PVC in Germany and among the top ten worldwide.

Krupp Uhde is a company in the Technologies segment of the ThyssenKrupp Group and has a workforce of 3,400 employees. The company`s activities focus on the design and construction of chemical and other industrial plants in the following fields: fertilisers, organic chemicals and plastics, electrolysis, oil and gas and pharmaceuticals.

Contact:

Horst Gieseler, Public Relations
Krupp Uhde
Tel.+49 2 31 5 47 -20 35
Fax +49 2 31 5 47 26 28
E-Mail: GieselerH@kud.thyssenkrupp