- Evonik Magazine 3/2009

Transcription

Evonik Magazine
Evonik Magazine
3| 2009
3| 2009
Biotechnology is using completely new processes
to create smart, sustainable products for everyday use
You're sure to have some of them in your home
1_Evonik_03-09_EN 1
07.09.2009 11:30:21 Uhr
www.evonik.com
Who makes sure cars will be
powered by electricity down the road?
We do.
Tomorrow’s hybrid and electric cars will be powered by ecofriendly high-performance batteries. Our ceramic membrane
SEPARION® makes these batteries safer and more efficient.
We are the creative industrial group from Germany active
in the fields of Chemicals, Energy and Real Estate. With over
100 production sites in around 30 countries, we are one of
the world’s leading providers of specialty chemicals.
EVONIK MAGAZINE 3/2009
EDITORIAL 3
The Drive System of the Future
Electric vehicles represent the future of mobility. The necessary technology
has been developed, and a broad-based market launch lies ahead
Dear readers,
PHOTOGRAPHY: RICO HOFMANN
Once the mass production of lithium-ion batteries for electric and hybrid vehicles is
under way at a future date in the town of Kamenz (Germany), we will be a giant step
closer to the goal of zero-emission individual mobility. Just imagine driving a car
that produces no noise or harmful emissions, can be recharged at a standard household
electrical socket, and has a range of several hundred kilometers. What only recently
seemed like a utopian vision, is today a sober description of the potential harbored by a
technology that already exists—one that to a large extent grew out of the crucial
research conducted at our company.
Dr. Klaus Engel, Chairman of the
Executive Board of Evonik Industries AG,
and Prof. Herbert Kohler, Head of the
E-Drive & Future Mobility department at
Daimler AG, joined German Research
Minister Dr. Annette Schavan and the
Premier of Saxony, Stanislaw Tillich,
(left to right) in July 2009 to inaugurate a
new development laboratory of Li-Tec
Battery GmbH & Co. KG
The paper-thin ceramic separator developed by Evonik Industries protects batteries
from overheating and makes it possible to use them in mass-produced automobiles.
Above all, this means vehicles that are safe, high-powered, long-lived, and affordable.
Our subsidiary Li-Tec Battery in Kamenz is planning to produce several million of
these high-performance battery cells annually in the future. Together with Daimler AG,
we are currently creating the preconditions for an early launch of series production.
The political decision-makers in most industrialized countries have realized the need
for a far-reaching transformation of mobility. In Germany, a national development
plan for electromobility was recently drawn up. The plan calls for a million electric
vehicles on Germany’s roads by 2020. The first units of the newest generation of
electric vehicles are expected to roll off the assembly lines in 2012. Our goal is to equip
a large proportion of them with batteries made by Evonik.
The special charm of electromobility is the fact that it paves the way toward increased
use of renewable energy sources. Today, electricity can still not be stored on a large
scale. This makes it difficult to efficiently use the energy generated by the wind and the
sun. However, when automobile batteries—connected to the electric grid—help to even
out the fluctuations associated with environmentally friendly electricity, thus stabilizing
electric networks, industry will take another giant step forward.
The infrastructure necessary for that step is currently being created. Major alliances
between industry, energy providers, and automakers are laying the groundwork
for the creation of a dense network of recharging stations. Joint efforts of this kind clearly
demonstrate how quickly industrial societies can make progress.
The editorial team has devoted a large part of this issue to the topic of electromobility
and “the miracle of Kamenz.”
Pleasant reading!
Sincerely,
3_Evonik_03-09_EN Abs1:3
07.09.2009 11:32:29 Uhr
12 BIOTECHNOLOGY
26 KAMENZ
42 FAMILY AND CAREER
38 SUN BLINDS
4_Evonik_03-09_EN 4
07.09.2009 11:43:05 Uhr
EDITORIAL
MASTHEAD
3 Opportunities for Electromobility in Germany
Publisher:
Evonik Industries AG
Christian Kullmann
Rellinghauser Str. 1–11
45128 Essen
Editor in Chief:
Inken Ostermann (responsible for
editorial content)
Coordination Evonik:
Ute Drescher
Art Direction:
Wolf Dammann
Final Editing:
Michael Hopp (Head),
Jane Marie Kähler
Managing Editor:
Roswitha Knye
Picture Desk:
Ulrich Thiessen
Documentation:
Kerstin Weber-Rajab,
Tilman Baucken; Hamburg
Design:
Teresa Nunes (Head),
Anja Giese/Redaktion 4
Copy Desk:
Wilm Steinhäuser
Publisher and address:
HOFFMANN UND CAMPE VERLAG
GmbH, a GANSKE VERLAGSGRUPPE
company
Harvestehuder Weg 42
20149 Hamburg
Telephone +49 40 44188-457
Fax +49 40 44188-236
e-mail [email protected]
Management:
Manfred Bissinger
Dr. Kai Laakmann
Dr. Andreas Siefke
Publication Manager:
Eva Maria Böbel
Production:
Claude Hellweg (Head), Oliver Lupp
Lithography:
PX2, Hamburg
Printing:
Laupenmühlen Druck, Bochum
Copyright:
© 2009 by Evonik Industries AG,
Essen. Reprinting only with the
permission of the publisher. The
contents do not necessarily reflect
the opinion of the publisher.
Contact:
Questions and suggestions on the
contents of the magazine:
Telephone +49 201 177-3831
Fax +49 201 177-2908,
Questions about orders or
subscriptions:
Telephone +49 40 68879-139
Fax +49 40 68879-199
INFORMING
6 At First Glance
Magazine: Prof. Hans-Jörg Bullinger talks about innovation in Germany; the Evonik Foundation fosters young talents
World map: The world map examines the connection between democracy and digital communication
Guest column: Prof. Joseph Stiglitz and Prof. Lord Nicolas Stern on the opportunities offered by green technologies
Debating: Experts answer the question “Do we need a global currency?”
DISCOVERING
12 Biotechnology Special Report
Lemonade, medications, jeans—biotechnology products have long been part of our everyday lives, thanks to the
“biological revolution.” To make these products, researchers at Evonik use metabolic engineering to turn bacteria into
high-performance chemical factories. “Bucking the Crisis with Biotech” shows that the undiminished potential of
this future-oriented technology is attracting more and more investors. PLUS: Foldout “Biotechnology in Everyday Life”
SHAPING
26 The Miracle of Kamenz
Twenty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the city in Saxony, Lessing’s birthplace, is set to become world-famous as
the site of a battery factory that will help make the transition to zero-emission, electric-powered automobiles possible
INSPIRING
PHOTOGRAPHY (CLOCKWISE): SPL/AGENTUR FOCUS, SVEN DÖRING, ANGELO KAUNAT, MATTHIAS JUNG; COVER: DOC-STOCK/MONTAGE: PICFOUR
CONTENTS 5
33 Nine Big Questions About Electromobility
... and the answers to them. Where can I recharge the car? What do charging stations look like? What kind of
infrastructure can I expect? These questions produced many ideas, the most important of which are described here
LIVING
38 Making a Deal with the Sun
Blinds made of a material based on PLEXIGLAS concentrate or reflect sunlight. They not only act as a source of inspiration
for architects but also create a pleasant interior climate and optimize energy efficiency
EXPERIENCING
42 More Family Time
Following an audit conducted by the Hertie Foundation, Evonik Industries AG has been certified as a “family-friendly
company.” This article examines family-oriented corporate policy—and explains why it makes good business sense
KNOWING
50 In Pursuit of the Big Bang
Tom Schimmeck on the hunt for elementary particles
EVONIK WORLDWIDE
51 A Journey Around the World to International Locations
Evonik Worldwide
A journey around the world to international Evonik locations
Austria
USA
Evonik’s new
alkoxides plant
in Alabama is
preparing the
company for the
U.S. biodiesel
market
Switzerland
Visionary
PLEXIGLAS
projects in
Styria and
Tyrol
The International Sales
department in
Zürich supports
Business Units
in the various
regions
China
The world’s
biggest trompel’oeil fresco
used Evonik
colorants
India
Brazil
Evonik supports
Brazil’s “green”
energy balance
through the
construction,
design,
construction
management,
and operation
of power plants
Italy
Evonik
maintains a
multi-user site
in Merano, as
photovoltaics
are booming in
Italy
51_Evonik_03-09_EN 51
The Pharma
Polymers
Business Line is
fostering the
development of
innovative and
affordable
medications in
Bombay
South Korea
An Evonik plant
in South Korea
supplies the
super carbon
black created in a
German-Korean
team effort
Brazil: Evonik is supporting Brazil’s “green” energy balance through the construction, design,
construction management, and operation of power plants
Italy: With photovoltaics booming in Italy, Evonik is maintaining a multi-user site in Merano
USA: A new alkoxide plant in Alabama is preparing Evonik for the biodiesel market
China: The world’s biggest trompe-l’oeil fresco used Evonik Colorants
South Korea: A German-Korean team has come up with a super carbon black
India: “Pharma Polymers” is fostering the development of innovative, affordable medications
Switzerland: “International Sales” in Zürich supports Business Units in the various regions
Austria: Visionary PLEXIGLAS projects in Tyrol and Styria
ccflex®, COLORTREND®, NEROX®, PLEXIGLAS®,
SEPARION®, and TEGO® are protected brands of
Evonik Industries AG or its subsidiaries. They are set
in capitals in the text.
07.09.2009 11:36:08 Uhr
You can also find this issue of Evonik Magazine online at www.evonik.com
5_Evonik_03-09_EN 5
07.09.2009 11:43:44 Uhr
INFORMING
6
Three questions for Prof. Hans-Jörg Bullinger
Quote of the month
Evonik in figures
“Improving our Position”
“We accept our social
responsibility to help
young people get started
on their professional
careers. Our training
policy is sustainable—
and this is no less
true in economically
difficult times.”
€311 million was spent by
EVONIK MAGAZINE In 2008, Germany took seventh place in
the OECD rankings of “Research and Development Performance.”
What do you expect from the next ranking?
BULLINGER A number of indicators suggest that Germany can
further improve its position. With the high-tech strategy, the three
research pacts, and the sharp increase in spending for research
and development, the public sector has done its part to reach the
three percent goal that was established by the European Union. Of
course, whether Germany improves its position is not up to Germany
alone; it also depends on how its competitors are developing.
EVONIK MAGAZINE There is also an innovation competition among
the German states. Who’s ahead at the moment?
BULLINGER For many years now the southern German states
of Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria have been well out in front with
respect to their spending on research and development, patents
registered, research and development personnel, and technologyoriented companies. Some distance behind them are Hamburg,
Hesse, Saxony, Berlin, and Bremen, which can keep up with the front
runners when it comes to innovative ability. Future viability is
based on education, innovative ability, and financial strength. The
two southern German states have established a lead here that will
be hard to catch up with.
EVONIK MAGAZINE Before the financial crisis, R&D spending
in Germany was projected to grow by 6.2 percent in 2008. Was
Germany able to achieve this figure despite the downturn?
BULLINGER This figure pertains solely to the growth of spending
by the private sector for research and development in 2008. The
private sector announced this figure prior to the crisis, and it is highly
unlikely that it was achieved. We cannot expect any increases this
year either. Companies are doing everything they can to avoid layoffs
and reductions in research. If they run into financing difficulties,
however, they will have no choice but to make cuts in their R&D
spending. There are a number of companies that are bucking the
trend and investing much more heavily in research and development,
but they will not be able to offset the cuts made by the many others.
6_Evonik_03-09_EN 6
Ralf Blauth, Evonik Executive Board
member and Labor Director
5.5
km is the height of the Evonik
Group archive if it were stacked vertically
600,000 tons of hydrogen
peroxide are produced by Evonik each
year, making it the world’s second-largest
producer. Hydrogen peroxide is used
primarily to bleach paper and cellulose
100 years is the age of TEGO, the
leading brand of additives for the
international paint and coatings industry
Boiler pressure test at Walsum 10
Premiere in Walsum
The progress continues: Two and a half years after the start of construction,
an important milestone has been reached at the Duisburg-Walsum construction
site. The Walsum 10 coal-fired power plant, which with an efficiency of
45 percent will be one of the most advanced power plants in the world, successfully completed its boiler pressure testing in early July. This is quite an
accomplishment, considering that the 106-meter-high boiler produces steam
with a temperature of 600 degrees Celsius at very high pressure (274 bar).
The boiler is superlative in other regards as well: 9,900 metric tons of
steel and 450 kilometers of piping went into its construction. Walsum 10 is
expected to go on line in 2010 with an output of 750 megawatts.
PHOTOGRAPHY: EVONIK INDUSTRIES
SOURCE: SIEMENS AG, PICTURES OF THE FUTURE, WWW.SIEMENS.DE/POF
PHOTOGRAPHY: BERNHARD HUBER
Prof. Hans-Jörg
Bullinger is
President of the
Fraunhofer Society
Evonik Industries AG on research and
development in 2008
Walsum 10 keeps on growing. It’s scheduled to go on line in 2010
04.09.2009 13:28:29 Uhr
7
Evonik Foundation fosters young talents
PHOTOGRAPHY FROM LEFT: RICO HOFMANN, KARSTEN BOOTMANN
“A Radar Screen for Good People”
With Oliver Busse it was his chemistry
teacher who awakened his love of
molecules. Melanie Thoß discovered
the charm of chemistry while she
was studying biology. “It’s all so logical
and so aesthetic,” she says, still under
the spell. And Alexander Lygin knew
while he was still in school that he would
one day study chemistry at Lomonosov
Moscow State University. All three
are in their mid-twenties, graduated
with honors, and are now working
on their doctoral dissertations—Busse
in Dresden, Thoß in Bochum, and
Lygin in Göttingen. Another thing they
have in common is that all of them have
received scholarships from the Evonik
Foundation. They are three of the
24 who showed up on the radar screen
of the Evonik Foundation through
word of mouth, Internet searches, or
their professors’ recommendations,
and they are now being fostered.
The Foundation has been operating
under this name and with a new logo
since the start of the year. Its aim is to
foster young talents who are unable
to finance their science education on
their own or with the aid of their
parents or other third parties, and who
do not, or no longer, qualify for
government assistance programs such
as the BaföG grants.
Today the Evonik Foundation has
assets totaling €7.2 million. Compared
to the large foundations of Bosch or
VW, the Evonik Foundation is relatively
small. Roughly 16,500 foundations
are estimated to exist in Germany
by the German Association of Foundations (Bundesverband Deutscher
Stiftungen). Incidentally, this number
is growing despite the financial crisis.
Erika Sticht is the Managing
Director of the Evonik Foundation.
Together with her aide Susanne
Peitzmann and science advisor Prof.
Wolfgang Leuchtenberger, she
developed a new concept for the foundation. “We want to transform our-
7_Evonik_03-09_EN 7
The scholarship winners: Oliver Busse is working on his doctorate in Dresden on regenerative chemistry.
Melanie Thoß wrapped up her study of biology with a chemistry topic and is now focusing on synthetic amino acids
selves from passive to active supporters,” says Sticht. “We want to do more
than just distribute money; we want to
provide our scholarship recipients with
comprehensive support.” In the
future, each scholarship winner will be
The Evonik Foundation
On January 1, 2009, the
Evonik Foundation took over the
activities of the Degussa
Foundation, which was originally
endowed with €2.5 million.
The Degussa - Hermann Schlosser
Foundation (established in
1954) and the Degussa-Conrad
Henkel Foundation (established
in 1991) were integrated
into the foundation in two steps in
September and October 2003.
The foundation appreciates any
financial support, whether it is in
the form of endowments or
donations. More information is
available on the foundation’s website (www.evonik-stiftung.de).
assigned a mentor and will also receive
funding to procure technical literature
and attend scientific conferences.
The scholarship winners can also
take part in the “Evonik Perspectives”
program. Evonik hopes to use this
program to stay in contact with young
talents and gain their loyalty to the
company. The Executive Board was
impressed. Dr. Klaus Engel, Chairman
of the Executive Board of Evonik
Industries AG, Chief Human Relations
Officer Ralf Blauth, Dr. Wolfgang
Colberg, and Head of Research Dr.
Peter Nagler approved the new orientation of the foundation. Says Sticht,
“The foundation underscores the
importance of corporate responsibility,
which will continue to increase
for companies like Evonik that are oriented to the capital markets.”
The new direction is also having
very practical effects. “Instead of
supporting 24 scholarship winners for
one year—with the option of extending
once or even twice,” says Peitzmann,
“we now concentrate on ten who have
secure funding for two years and can
opt for a one-time extension. This offers them more planning certainty,
particularly for doctorate scholarship
winners.” In 2009 the foundation will
grant scholarships solely for diploma
and master’s theses as well as dissertations in the following chemistry
majors: Organic Chemistry, Physical
Chemistry, Technical Chemistry,
Macromolecular Chemistry, Material
Science, and Process Engineering.
Who is eligible for a scholarship?
“These are really excellent people
that we’re fostering,” says Peitzmann.
The job of finding the right candidates
among the pile of applications falls
to Professor Leuchtenberger. “A letter
along the lines of ‘I need your help’
isn’t enough. The applicants have to
show what they’ve already done,
clearly describe their subject area, and
submit a detailed work plan,” explains
Leuchtenberger. The result is a selection
of finalists from whom the Executive
Board then chooses. As a welcome side
effect, the foundation also serves, in
the words of Sticht, as a “radar screen
for good people.” <
04.09.2009 13:28:32 Uhr
8
INFORMING
Is Democracy Spreading via the Internet and Cell Phones?
Virtually impossible to control, the flow of digital information is creating an unprecedented kind
of global openness. The Evonik Magazine world map offers a look at the connection between the development
of democracy and access to modern means of communication
Cell phone use in Africa
83.9
Prepaid cell phones are boosting the African economy.
Some cards cost less than €0.30
60
50
SOURCE: EUROMONITOR 2007
40
30
Botswana
Egypt
Nigeria
Tanzania
Sudan
Democratic Republic
of the Congo
Figures in %
65.3
48.9
53.4
72.5
62.5
59.6
25.2
20
10
0
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005
2006 2007
AFRICA GOES MOBILE
22.4
18.5
14.6
13.3
USA
Mexico
Obama sent a signal
with his election
campaign: Americans
are leaders in “e-participation.” People
communicate online
with the government
if they can
Farmer or slum
dweller, maid
or security guard:
The mobile phone
is basic equipment
for everyone
In Botswana nearly everyone is reachable, even though
the country’s power supply and roads are still
inadequate. In Tanzania and the Congo, mobile phone
rates are still too high for many people
63.1
35.2
19.5
21.720.5
9.2
Brazil
THE GLOBAL DEMOCRACY INDEX
evaluates freedoms of
speech and information,
civil rights, functioning
government bodies, free
elections, and respect
for human rights. The
index classifies 30.5
percent of all countries
as dictatorships, and
only 18 percent as strong
democracies.
8_Evonik_03-09_EN 8
Strong
democracy
Weak
democracy
Hybrid regime with authoritarian
and democratic elements
Dictatorship
The nation’s households
have 45 million PCs—
but over 60 percent still
don’t surf the Internet.
A “digital integration”
aims to get school kids to
use computers
No data*
SOURCE: THE ECONOMIST, STATUS 2008;
*THE ECONOMIST WAS UNABLE TO GATHER DATA
RELATED TO NATIONS IN THIS CATEGORY
ILLUSTRATIONS: PICFOUR
04.09.2009 14:30:36 Uhr
9
117.6
114.6
113.7
DIGITAL OPPORTUNITY INDEX
89.0
71.7
65.165.1
80.0
71.0
72.0
The Digital Opportunity Index evaluates
the infrastructure, use, and costs of IT and
communications technology and shows
opportunities for transparency and development
in 181 countries. 1.6 billion people—nearly
one fifth of the world’s population—use the
Internet, and 4.4 billion people use cell phones.
62.560.4
49.0
31.0
24.4
21.1
12.1
4.1
Germany
Sweden
Russia
Cell phones storing
six million songs
plus photos and
videos; in one year
Germans talk on
their “handys” for
over one billion
hours. Land lines
are losing
importance
Sweden is Number
One worldwide in the
Democracy Index.
e-government became
the norm here long
ago; Swedes pay their
school tuition online
Stock prices on cell
phones, shopping online:
It all requires digital
infrastructure across
11 time zones
Cell phones per
100 residents
2002 2007
Land lines per
100 residents
2002 2007
Internet users per
100 residents
2002 2007
SOURCE: INTERNATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATION UNION (ITU) 2009
41.2
27.5
16.0
16.6
16.0
4.6
China
601 million cell
phones, 253 million
Internet users (as
of 2008). Citizens can
use a hotline to
report misconduct by
public officials and
corrupt civil servants
20.0
1.2
3.9 3.4 1.6 6.9
India
29.3
5.1
2.1 2.2 1.0
Cell phone boom in
India: Prepaid rates
and cheap phones
have catapulted
use from 1.2 to 20
percent
6.6
Senegal
The economy
is holding its own
in the crisis; the
government is
funding IT. Cyber
cafés in Dakar
offer high-speed
Internet for
€0.40 per hour
64.9
53.3
47.1
69.0
58.0
87.1
Australia
29.4
10.4 9.6
6.7 8.2
South Africa
Prices of broadband
services are falling
by over 20 percent
9_Evonik_03-09_EN 9
102.5
€22 billion for a nation-wide
broadband network: Modern glass
fiber cables will soon provide
Internet access with transmission rates
of up to 100 megabits per second
04.09.2009 14:30:42 Uhr
10
INFORMING
Guest column
Obama’s Opportunity
Investments in green technologies can now be
the crucial engine of growth. Barack Obama
has realized that. But what opportunities does he
have to promote this agenda?
TEXT JOSEPH STIGLITZ AND
NICHOLAS STERN
WE ARE CURRENTLY FACING
PHOTOGRAPHY: GETTY IMAGES
two crises at once: a deep-seated
global economic crisis that was caused
in the financial sector by insufficient
risk management, and an even more
serious climate crisis. Although the
effects of the latter currently seem to
be affecting us with less force, the
future development of climate change
will depend on what kind of action
we take now.
The risks connected with climate
change are different, and more
wide-ranging, than the effects of the
Prof. Joseph Stiglitz received
the Nobel Prize in Economics in
2001. He is the author of the
bestseller Making Globalization
Work.
Prof. Lord Nicholas Stern is
Chair of the Grantham Research
Institute on Climate Change
and the Environment at the
London School of Economics
10_Evonik_03-09_EN 10
economic crisis. If we ignore climate
change or respond to it in the wrong
way, our actions will have much more
serious consequences. The USA in
particular now has the opportunity to
react to the economic crisis and at
the same time to lay the foundation for
new growth with low-CO2 technologies that could act as an engine of
growth.
President Barack Obama presented his budget plan in his speech to
Congress at the beginning of this year.
He explained that the country has to
address both of these challenges and
talked about comprehensive approaches to these solutions. The US
government could receive worldwide
approval for this approach and
could make possible an international
agreement at the UN Climate
Change Conference in Copenhagen
in December 2009 that offers a firm
foundation for managing the risks
associated with climate change.
At some point in the future we will
have overcome the economic crisis,
even though any mistakes we make in
our crisis management could cause
it to have more severe effects or to last
longer. However, faulty management
of the climate crisis could have irreversible consequences.
As the author of the bestseller
Making Globalization Work puts it, we
could continue in the future to act
as recklessly as we do now if we had
something like a thousand Earths at
our disposal. If the catastrophe
that we have to expect does in fact take
place, we could simply move to
another planet. Unfortunately, we
can’t afford this luxury, because there
is only one Earth.
MORE THAN A
SHORT-TERM BOOST
The cause of the financial crisis was the
bursting of the bubble created by speculation on the US real estate market.
Previous to that, the dot.com boom
had also come to an abrupt end. We
cannot respond to these developments
by creating yet another speculation
bubble. The investments that would be
necessary to create a low-CO2 economy in our society would be an engine
of growth for the next two or three
decades. They could change the way
we live and work, and they would
ensure sustainable growth while at the
same time raising our standard of
living. However, the direction in which
we’ve been moving to date will not
take us there.
The economies of the USA and
other countries will emerge from the
crisis considerably weakened. That’s
why increases in efficiency are absolutely necessary. One area that harbors
tremendous potential for improvement
is energy efficiency in business enterprises, private households, and public
institutions.
A recent study conducted by the Peterson Institute concluded that the
investment of $10 billion (almost €7
billion or £6 billion) in heat insulation
for private homes and public buildings
between 2009 and 2011 would
create up to 100,000 secure jobs. At
the same time, annual expenditures
within the overall economy would
be reduced by $1.4 to $3.1 billion
between 2012 and 2020.
Such investments, as well as investments in green technologies and
infrastructure, would be far more than
just a short-term boost for the economy. In fact, they would improve the
overall competitiveness of the US
economy. Because the global economy
is increasingly turning toward lowCO2 technologies, the countries that
already have these technologies at
their disposal will have a competitive
advantage.
Private investments follow the signals that are generated by the markets.
These signals are being distorted,
because we have assigned a value of
zero to one of the Earth’s scarcest
resources — a “good” atmosphere, as
opposed to the emissions leading to
a “bad” atmosphere, whose costs have
to be paid by society. So it should
come as no surprise that the results of
this attitude are negative. The level
of emissions is too high, and we’re not
doing enough to save energy and
explore new technologies.
04.09.2009 16:07:40 Uhr
US President
Barack Obama
helps members
of a student
organization to
plant a tree
in Washington
D.C. (USA).
But will this
symbolic policy
become a real
one?
11_Evonik_03-09_EN 11
Do We Now Need
a Global Currency? No
But why not? The benefits of a uniform currency might seem obvious,
but the arguments against it are equally convincing. However, there are
also dissenting opinions
Three or four currencies
Prof. Kenneth Rogoff (Professor at Harvard University and Chief Economist of the International Monetary Fund from 2001 to 2003) Without a global government it would be difficult to
institute adequate control mechanisms in a central world bank. Global competition between
different currencies is in many respects an appropriate means of controlling inflation. A central
world bank would have to take over responsibility for the natural regulating functions. A merging
of currencies may be desirable, but how far should this process go? A global currency would
not be a worthwhile goal in the foreseeable future. It would be better to keep at least three or four currencies.
Obvious
disadvantages
Faulty
timing
Prof. Robert
A. Mundell
(Canadian
economist and
Nobel Prize
recipient)
The advantages of a global currency would be huge. Without
customs duties and controls,
trade between countries would
be as simple as it is between the
US states. A global currency
would benefit the monetary policy of two thirds of all countries.
In a dollar-oriented world, all
countries would have the same
rate of inflation and similar interest rates. Trade, productivity,
and integration would increase.
Prof. Dr. Michael
Boskin (Professor of Economics
at Stanford
University)
The idea of a
global currency has obvious disadvantages. If southern Europe were
more strongly affected by the financial crisis than northern Europe,
a national economy would have
two options. Its currency could be
devalued, and that would raise
the competitiveness of its exports
while making its imports more
expensive. Alternatively, workers
might emigrate from the south,
where there were fewer jobs, to
the less hard-hit north.
Prof. Hans-Werner
Sinn (President
of the ifo Institute
for Economic
Research)
It’s certainly possible
to create a currency that represents
the average value of other currencies
and then serves as a unit for credit
contracts. But this would be the
wrong time to do so. Today the world
is out of sync in terms of capital flows
and the current-account balance.
Only when the USA’s gigantic currentaccount deficit is gone can the dollar
return to parity in purchasing power.
At that point a global currency would
be conceivable. But we’re still far
from that point right now.
PHOTOGRAPHY: DPA
A dollaroriented world
PHOTOGRAPHY: KWAN CHOI
PHOTOGRAPHY: DPA
A high, stable price for CO2 is probably
the only politically feasible strategy
that would have a favorable effect
on economic performance and at the
same time offer a possible solution
to the climate crisis.
In view of the tremendous uncertainty caused by the economic crisis,
today it’s more important than ever to
reach unambiguous conclusions about
policy and the price of CO2 for business enterprises. The risks harbored
by both crises reinforce one another
and slow down the readiness of companies to make investments. We may
not be in a position to master the risks
of the economic crisis in the near
future, but we can act now and ensure
that there is considerably less uncertainty about future CO2 policy and
about the price of CO2 .
The increasing readiness of
creative entrepreneurs to address the
challenges presented by a low-CO2
economy will inspire others, and that
will very clearly boost innovation.
This is exactly the factor that could
generate the genuine growth we’ve
been waiting for so long.
The problems connected with
global warming can be addressed only
by all the countries on the planet acting
together. The world has been waiting
for the USA to make the first move.
Now there is every reason to believe
that the USA is ready to take on the
leadership role. <
Debating
PHOTOGRAPHY: DPA
PHOTOGRAPHY: DPA
11
08.09.2009 10:55:14 Uhr
The Biological
Do clever chemists
look like this?
The spores of Aspergillus niger: This fungus, which
is at home in dust and decaying food products,
helps industry to produce enzymes and acids (citric
acid and tartaric acid)
12_Evonik_03-09_EN 12
04.09.2009 16:14:31 Uhr
BIOTECHNOLOGY
DISCOVERING 13
Revolution
It’s happening without a huge commotion, and yet it’s highly successful.
Biotechnology products have long since found their way into our everyday lives,
because they are healthier, environmentally friendlier, and sustainable
PHOTOGRAPHY: SPL/AGENTUR FOCUS
TEXT CAROLINE ZÖRLEIN/MICHAEL KÖMPF
LOOKING AT LEMONADE, shampoo or rust remover, nobody thinks about
biotechnology. But for a long time now we
have been using biotechnologically produced substances in almost every area of
life. Industry also profits from the tools of
nature: Biotechnology is today already replacing conventional processes in the petrochemicals industry.
Protein machinery works silently. If you
feed microorganisms like bacteria, yeast
cells or mold with the right raw materials,
then a biotechnological metabolic factory
will start up. Bacteria usually make us think
of illnesses, yet they are also essential organisms. Bacteria help, for example, in the
digestion of food and in the production of
vitamins. We even consume lots of these
microorganisms with every yogurt we eat.
Bacteria that produce lactic acid provide
the yogurt with its distinctive taste and
keep it long-lasting. After all, these tiny
creatures are ingenious chemistry specialists. Their cells contain countless special biochemical tools that produce practical substances: alkoxides, lactic or citric
acid, amino acids, vitamins, penicillin, and
many other important materials. The tools
of biotechnology—the enzymes—integrate
perfectly in these processes. Industry has
13_Evonik_03-09_EN 13
also discovered the qualities of these biocatalysts and uses them for the production
of important chemicals.
Experts are now even talking of the
biologization of chemistry, because in recent years biotechnology has become even
How it all began…
The naturalist and microscope maker
Antonie van Leeuwenhoek (1632–
1723) wrote of “little animalcules” after
he looked through his lenses and
became the first person to see bacteria. It
was 200 years later before someone
once again became interested in these
microbes: Louis Pasteur (1822–1895)
discovered not only the lactic acid
bacteria, but also the method by which
food products could be made germ-free
by a short heating process now called
“pasteurization.” The fact that yeasts,
bacteria, and mold work by using
much smaller tools, and thus can produce
substances like alcohol, was first
discovered by Eduard Buchner (1860–
1917). The first industrial uses for
these biological tools, called enzymes,
were in the tanning of leather and
the production of washing powders.
more specialized. A color code differentiates between the specific areas of application (see “Color biotechnology,” p. 14): red
biotechnology covers medical issues, green
stands for agricultural biotechnology, and
white biotechnology delivers organic standard and specialty chemicals. Common to
all of them is their use of the tools of nature for industrial production and their focus on the problem-solving characteristics
of nature. Modern biotechnology can also
specifically draw upon the methods used in
molecular biology, so that researchers can
utilize genetic engineering to design and
optimize microorganisms.
INDEPENDENCE FROM OIL
Evonik was quick to recognize and promote
this immense potential. “On the one hand,
biotechnology can lead to new products,
and on the other, it can provide an alternative access to new raw materials,” says
Dr. Thomas Haas, Head of the Bio Scienceto-Business-Center. “To become less reliant on oil, we must concentrate our work
in particular on finding how to make our
current products with renewable raw materials like sugar or plant material residues,” explains Haas. The chemical processes used today are still generally very
capital- and energy-intensive. Molds and
bacterial cultures have the potential to >
04.09.2009 18:39:51 Uhr
14
DISCOVERING
BIOTECHNOLOGY
“Intelligently combining
biology and chemistry”
LIFE IN THE ENZYME FACTORY
“Our team is constantly searching for new
enzymes or metabolic pathways in microorganisms. This is to enable us to change
the processes that have up until now been
based on oil, from the very ground up,”
says Dr. Oliver Thum, Head of Biotechnical Research in the business unit Consumer
Specialties. “Ingredients in cosmetic products like wax esters, which due to their
high oil content contribute to skin care, or
also active substances in creams that delay
the aging process of the skin can today be
produced using biotechnology,” says the
chemistry specialist. One active substance
that is manufactured using bacterial microorganisms and used in anti-wrinkle creams
in the cosmetics industry is called biopolymer hyaluronic acid. This substance exists
naturally in our bodies and serves as a lubricant in articular cartilage.
Products from the enzyme factory can
also help in the household. They have been
whirling around in our washing machines
for a long time now as protein removers,
14_Evonik_03-09_EN 14
fat busters, and cellulose splitters in our
washing powders, removing dirt and sweat
from under the trickiest collar. This saves
not only active washing agents such as detergents, but also energy. After all, the biochemical specialists start to work at lower
temperatures. These biological tools can
be easily recognized on the washing powder package due to the fact that they end in
“ase.” Lipases, for example, start to break
down fats at 20 degrees Celsius.
Soft drinks also contain biotechnological products. For example, it’s been a long
time since the added citric acid came from
lemons. The fungus Aspergillus niger produces citric acid in large quantities—and
highly efficiently. These tiny helpers are
even suitable for uses in medical technology. The biotechnologists are today teaching the microorganisms a new trick or two,
explains Haas: “We are manufacturing special amino acids for infusions, for example.
And in materials science we’re working on
biotechnological solutions for high-performance polymers and special coatings.”
The range of applications for sustainable
chemistry is not only diverse, it also opens
up new opportunities: “combining biology and chemistry intelligently,” says Haas.
Whether in everyday life or in major industries, the repertoire of microorganisms is
far from being exhausted. <
Color biotechnology
A color code differentiates between
the various fields in biotechnology. Red
biotechnology is the largest field,
taking its name from the color of human
blood. It is concerned with new
therapies and diagnostic methods. Its
foundations were first established
a few decades ago by means of genetic
research. Green biotechnology devotes
itself to the cultivation of new varieties
of plants and develops pest-resistant or
higher-yielding crops using the
methods of genetic engineering. White
biotechnology applies the tools of
nature to industrial production. Products
from the white biotechnology area such
as wine, bread, and yogurt have been
around for thousands of years but
are today produced using standard and
specialty chemicals. The focus of blue
biotechnology is on ocean organisms
such as the heat-tolerant enzyme
from deep-sea bacteria that live near
underwater volcanoes. Another
field is gray biotechnology. It focuses
on environmental protection and
uses microorganisms to treat garbage or
waste water, for example.
PHOTOGRAPHY: SPL/AGENTUR FOCUS, GETTY IMAGES
> produce chemical substances in a cheaper
and more sustainable manner. They only
require sugar, salt, oxygen, and water as
starting materials. It is therefore possible
to save valuable resources and also use less
energy and additional chemicals.
04.09.2009 16:14:49 Uhr
A great
job for yeast
The cells of the yeast Saccharomyces
cerevisiae have a diameter of 5–10 μm
and are better known as brewer’s
yeast or baker’s yeast. They help in the
baking of bread as well as in
the fermentation of wine and beer
Bacteria get
down to work
Escherichia coli bacteria have a bad reputation. However, as part of the intestinal flora they protect us
against germs. When they are genetically modified,
they can also be used for the production of insulin
15_Evonik_03-09_EN 15
04.09.2009 16:14:56 Uhr
16
DISCOVERING
BIOTECHNOLOGY
Designer Microbes
In a process known as metabolic engineering, researchers at Evonik are using biotechnology
to genetically modify bacteria and turn them into high-performance chemical plants
TEXT CAROLINE ZÖRLEIN
MILLIONS of microorganisms are in the
process of conquering the chemicals industry. These tiny microbes are used to produce
molecules for feed additives and the chemical building blocks for pharmaceuticals and
high-performance polymers. It’s a process
that saves energy and helps reduce the burden on our environment.
The chemical factories of the future—
bacteria, each one only a few thousandths
of a millimeter across—will swim by the millions in huge stainless-steel vats of a flocculent, milky yellow nutrient broth. There
are some groups of bacteria that are capable of breaking down over 100 different organic substrates, whereas others specialize
in very specific substances. Researchers at
Evonik Industries are now harnessing this
potential for the biotechnological production of chemicals. In essence, what they do
is to optimize the natural mechanisms of the
microorganisms in question and put them to
industrial use.
This process is known as metabolic engineering. Employed by chemists, biologists, and chemical engineers at Evonik,
it involves the use of genetic engineering
techniques to make precise changes in the
metabolism of bacterial cells. Given that as
many as 1,000 reactions can be taking place
16_Evonik_03-09_EN 16
simultaneously within the bacteria, this is a
highly complex undertaking. “The first task
is to identify the reaction pathways required
to produce the chemical building blocks we
want to obtain, to analyze the biocatalysts
involved, and, on that basis, to devise new
synthetic metabolic pathways,” explains biologist Dr. Steffen Schaffer, Head of the Synthetic Metabolic Pathways Area of Competence at Evonik’s Bio Science-to-Business
Center in Marl. Once this has been achieved
and the designer bacteria are producing the
World of Bacteria
Bacteria multiply at a frenzied rate, and
our planet is populated by enormous
numbers of them. Just one gram of topsoil can contain hundreds of millions
of these microorganisms. On the skin
and within the body of a healthy
human being, there are 100 times as
many microbes as there are somatic
cells. And even in a cubic meter of air,
there are normally hundreds of
bacteria. Throughout the world as a
whole, there are an estimated 6 x 1030
individual bacteria. That’s six million
trillion trillion bugs.
desired substance, the latter can be isolated
from the nutrient broth and then further
processed to make chemical building blocks
for biopolymers, for example, or bioactive
ingredients for skin creams.
GENETIC FRAGMENTS PROVIDE
BLUEPRINTS FOR BIOCATALYSTS
The engines of these miniature chemical
plants are their biocatalysts—the enzymes.
These are proteins responsible for triggering or accelerating a specific biochemical
reaction. The bacterial cells use this reaction to form a useful molecular building
block from a naturally occurring raw material. The instructions for making the enzyme itself—its genetic blueprint—are to be
found in the individual segments of the enzyme’s genome. Every enzyme is a specialist in a specific chemical reaction. A series
of these biocatalysts makes a perfect production line for the desired end product.
“Using enzymes, we can make bioactive
products that it’s impossible to produce efficiently by means of traditional chemical
synthesis. That saves a lot of resources,” explains biologist Dr. Ralf Kelle, Head of Research & Development for Bioproducts at
Evonik in Halle, North Rhine-Westphalia.
Nature has a huge stockpile of such biocatalysts. Indeed, scientists estimate that
there are more than 7,000 naturally oc- >
04.09.2009 16:38:21 Uhr
A bucket
of bugs
A technician prepares a
fermenter for the cultivation
of microorganisms
17_Evonik_03-09_EN 17
04.09.2009 16:38:24 Uhr
18
DISCOVERING
Prof. Louis
Pasteur (1822–
1895) was a
pioneer of
microbiology.
The process
known as
pasteurization
is still used
to this day
BIOTECHNOLOGY
Prof. Eduard
Buchner
(1860–1917)
discovered
the process of
cell-free
fermentation,
for which he
was awarded
the Nobel Prize
Dr. Oliver
Thum is the
Director of
the Consumer
Specialties
Business Unit
Dr. Steffen
Schaffer heads
the Synthetic
Metabolic
Pathways unit
at the Bio
Science-toBusiness
Center in Marl
Dr. Ralf Kelle is
a biologist
and the Director
of R&D for
the Bioproducts
Business Unit
in Halle, North
Rhine-Westphalia
Dr. Thomas
Haas is the
Director
of the Bio
Science-toBusiness
Center in Marl
From pasteurization to fully engineered biotech processes
PHOTOGRAPHY V. L.: AKG, DPA, EVONIK INDUSTRIES (4)
> curring enzymes. Of that number, a mere
130 are used industrially. The researchers in Marl investigate which enzymes
are particularly suitable for this purpose
and the kinds of genetic blueprint they require. “We collect gene fragments containing the genetic blueprints for specific biocatalysts from various bacteria, yeasts, and
plants,” says Schaffer. Using a kind of cutand-paste method, the researchers put together a new genetic blueprint from these
fragments and then implant this in the bacterial cells. Each bacterium “reads” this information and produces the corresponding
enzymes, with the result that the reactions
within the cell follow the desired metabolic
pathway.
“To get a microorganism to produce a
building block for a plastic from, say, sugar,
you need around a dozen enzymes to modify individual sugar molecules, split them,
and then combine them with other chemical building blocks from the cellular factory,” Schaffer explains.
Originally, the genome of a bacterium
is programmed to extract as much energy
and biomass as possible from sugar. Converting a bacterium into a cellular factory that can produce a desired substance
may involve modifying as many as several hundred of the total number of 3,000
to 4,000 genes. In other words, persuad-
18_Evonik_03-09_EN 18
ing a bacteria cell to follow a new, artificial production schedule is by no means a
simple task. The researchers first need to
look very carefully at where they can intervene in the complex network of metabolic processes with its innumerable
production cycles. “After all, we’re dealing with a living organism here. And like
any living organism, it requires nutrients,
trace elements, and optimal conditions in
the technical process if it is to function productively. Any genetic modifications must
be precisely adjusted to these parameters.
A ‘half-dead’ bacterium is of no use to anyone,” says Kelle. The researchers also use
sophisticated computer programs and
mathematical models to modify chemical
cycles and reaction cascades or to assess
feedback mechanisms.
CELLULAR FACTORIES FOR
AGRICULTURE
In order to implant the new combination of
gene fragments, the bacteria are subjected
to an electric field. “This makes the cell
boundary permeable, so that the synthetic
genetic material can be implanted,” explains
Schaffer. Those bacterial cells that have successfully incorporated this synthetic genetic
material within their own genome are then
selectively propagated. Further tests determine whether the cells actually possess the
requisite new properties. “The ideal result is
to get a microorganism that takes in as much
of the raw material as possible and excretes
large quantities of the desired substance
while using as little energy as possible—and
reproducing at the same time,” adds Kelle.
With the help of so-called metabolic engineering, a key competence in the field of
white biotechnology, it is possible to develop
new biotechnological processes which are
based on naturally occurring raw materials and which therefore help conserve the
world’s oil reserves. Moreover, the microorganisms work in environmentally friendly
and energy-saving reaction conditions: kept
in a so-called fermenter, which can hold
anywhere up to 500,000 liters, the bacteria thrive at a temperature of 30 to 40 degrees Celsius in an aqueous solution with
a neutral pH.
Modern agriculture would be unthinkable without the bacterial biochemical
factories, which are used to produce, for
example, high-grade feed additives for
poultry and pigs. These include the amino
acid L-lysine, small amounts of which increase the nutritional value of normal
feed immensely. Indeed, adding around
two grams of L-lysine per kilo of feed doubles the feed’s nutritional value. According
to Professor Christian Wandrey, former
Director of the Institute of Biotechnology
04.09.2009 16:38:32 Uhr
19
in Jülich, the 800,000 metric tons of L-lysine now produced by industry reduce the
amount of land required to cultivate feed
crops by 20 million hectares—the equivalent of around 30 percent of the arable land
used to grow cereals in the EU. This land
thus becomes available to grow food for
human consumption.
White biotechnology demands the use of
a perfectly tuned microorganism, so that the
cellular factory functions efficiently. This
also means taking into account factors such
as energy use and raw material consumption. Yet these efforts are worthwhile. “To
produce these vital amino acids—the building blocks of proteins—synthetically would
be highly complicated and barely economically viable,” explains Kelle. “There’s been
no genuine alternative to using microorganisms for over 40 years now, but it’s only in
the last 15 years that it’s become possible
to deliberately increase their productivity.
Evonik currently produces and conducts
research into all the important amino acids
used in animal feed.”
Meanwhile, the use of amino acids in
other areas—for example, as protein building
blocks in medical infusions or dietary supplements in sports nutrition—is now growing continuously thanks to the efficient production processes.
The aim now is to extend the use of biotechnological production to other chemical
products and fields of application. In particular, Evonik would like to develop biotechnological methods for manufacturing further products from Evonik’s current core
business areas, such as high-performance
polymers and active ingredients for the cosmetics industry. <
S U M M A RY
• Biotechnology uses microorganisms
such as bacteria, yeast cells, and fungi for
the production of chemicals.
• Biotech processes and products are
becoming increasingly specialized: red biotechnology in the field of medicine, green
biotechnology in the field of agriculture, and
white biotechnology in the field of industry.
• Researchers use a technique known
as metabolic engineering to genetically
modify cells in order to optimize the
biotechnological production of chemicals.
• The biologization of chemistry saves
energy and resources, and replaces standard
processes in the petrochemicals industry.
Changing a cell into a chemical factory
Biotechnologists genetically modify microorganisms such as bacteria in order to optimize them for industrial use. This involves the use of
genetic engineering to make precise changes in the metabolism of the bacterial cells. Given that as many as 1,000 reactions can be taking place
simultaneously within those cells, all of which have to be taken into account, that’s a highly complex task.
2. Some microorganisms produce special
substances. Biotechnologists identify the gene
segments responsible for this behavior and cut
them out using special enzymes.
1. Each bacteria cell has
its own genome.
Located along the chain
of this DNA are the
individual genes, which
contain the genetic
blueprints for various
proteins. These include
enzymes, which
can produce specific
substances.
Enzyme
3. The individual gene
fragments are then stuck
together, again using special
enzymes. The result is a
ring-shaped chain of DNA,
which is implanted in the
bacterium as an additional
genetic blueprint.
The new
DNA is implanted
in the cell
ILLUSTRATION: DR. DIETER DUNEKA
Bacteria
Enzyme
The cell now contains
both DNA chains
4. Implantation of the additional DNA
turns the microorganism into a miniature
chemical factory. When cultivated in
a bioreactor and fed with the right culture
medium, the cells produce chemical
building blocks for use in the production
of plastics or animal feed.
Segment of
a DNA chain
19_Evonik_03-09_EN 19
04.09.2009 16:38:48 Uhr
20
DISCOVERING
BIOTECHNOLOGY
Bucking the Crisis with Biotech
TEXT CAROLINE ZÖRLEIN
ENZYMES, bacteria and fungus are
shaking up the chemicals industry for the
long term: Today biotechnology production facilities aren’t making only medications and diagnostic aids; they are also
more often making basic and specialty
chemicals. According to a survey by the
consulting firm McKinsey, US$140 billion in sales was generated with industrial
biotechnology products in 2007. That
corresponds to six percent of the total
sales recorded by the chemicals industry.
Based on the Organisation for Economic
Co-operation and Development (OECD)
study “The Bioeconomy to 2030,” by
2015 this share will have risen to between 12 and 20 percent. The OECD expects the bioeconomy to account for up
to 2.7 percent of the total combined economic performance of the OECD nations
by 2030.
The business forecasts for the entire
biotech industry have been dimmed,
however, by the global financial crisis—
Germany’s Federal Ministry of Education
Kiel
and Research (BMBF) is pointing to difficult conditions for financing in 2009. The
analysts are currently almost entirely unable to provide any concrete numbers.
The auditing and consulting company’s
annual biotechnology report shows that
the industry posted moderate growth in
2008: Despite the financial crisis, sales
rose by six percent.
AN INDUSTRY AT A
CROSSROADS
Financing models, in particular, are making life difficult for German biotech companies. In 2008 total equity financing decreased by nearly 50 percent. What’s
more, the traditional model of venture
capital financing, which is used by almost
one quarter of biotech companies, is increasingly in doubt, especially for companies that develop medications. Without
the participation of major private investors the situation would be even more dramatic, given that last year they provided
half of the total equity. This is why the authors of the 2009 German biotechnology
report see the industry at a crossroads: Ei-
Rostock
Hamburg
Berlin
Hanover
Halle
Göttingen
Leipzig
Dresden
Cologne
Frankfurt
a. M.
Heidelberg
Stuttgart
Ulm
Freiburg
20_Evonik_03-09_EN 20
Munich
Biotech in Germany
The German Ministry of Education and Research
reports that biotech companies in Germany are 8.6
years old on average. Roughly 30 percent of the
approximately 500 companies have been active for
more than ten years, and about 13 percent have
been founded within the last three years. In addition to
Munich and the Rhineland, the Berlin-Brandenburg
region and Baden-Württemberg have also become
established as centers of Germany’s biotechnology
industry. The size of the circles at left reflects
the number of companies in the respective regions.
PHOTOGRAPHY: HMWVL
A mixed situation is emerging in the German biotechnology sector: The impact of the financial crisis
The chemicals industry, in particular, presents a broad spectrum of growth opportunities and is
Steffen Saebisch,
Hesse’s State Secretary
for Economic Affairs,
calls for “investments in
white biotechnology, a
sustainable, outstanding
technology that can meet
tomorrow’s needs”
ther it will become an independent innovation driver with sustainable business
models and corresponding financing by
virtue of its own market presence. Or it
will have to—with few exceptions—be satisfied for the foreseeable future to remain
just a source of ideas and a supplier with
limited ability to create its own added
value.
The fact that the companies had diminished budgets at their disposal in
2008 is clearly evident in their expenditures for research and development:
While spending on R&D was increased
by 16 percent in 2007, budgets were
slashed in 2008, when R&D spending
was reduced by two percent to €966 million. And the situation has also deteriorated in Europe: In 2008 only three European biotech companies were bold
enough to place IPOs; 21 companies took
the step in 2007.
To show investors the possibilities of
“white” (industrial) biotechnology and
to network the investors with entrepreneurs and finance experts, the first German investors’ conference focusing on
white biotechnology took place in Frankfurt am Main (Germany) in early May
2009. “In the long term, energy and the
basic materials of the chemicals industry
will be generated from renewable raw
materials and make us independent of
fossil fuels and other resources,” said
Steffen Saebisch, Hesse’s State Secretary
for Economic Affairs, at the event. “Investments in white biotechnology, a sus-
(SOURCE: THE GERMAN BIOTECHNOLOGY SECTOR,
2009 SURVEY OF COMPANIES, BMBF) ILLUSTRATION: PICFOUR
04.09.2009 16:42:11 Uhr
25
is now being felt here as well. The technology’s potential is undiminished, however.
attracting more and more investors
tainable, outstanding technology that can
meet tomorrow’s needs, is particularly
important for a country like Germany,
which is highly developed but poor in
raw materials,” added Saebisch. Seven of
the ten young companies seeking capital
that presented themselves at the conference are members of the Evonik-sponsored Cluster Industrielle Biotechnologie (CLIB2021), thus testifying to the
attractiveness of industrial biotechnology for investors.
While Germany does enjoy a strong
position in this field, investors are however less familiar with the industrial segment than, for example, with “red” biotechnology. According to the BMBF, 44
percent of German biotech companies
develop medications and diagnostic
tests—and it’s a growing market. The auditing and consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers expects that “by the year
2020 half of all new medications will
come either entirely or partly from the
biotechnology companies’ pipeline.”
About 37 percent of the biotech companies in Germany are not active in a specialized field, according to the BMBF; instead they provide services, such as
producing biological molecules commissioned by other biotech companies. Accounting for a much smaller share of the
pie is industrial biotechnology, in which
nine percent of the companies operate.
There was modest growth in this segment
between 2007 and 2008, when the number of companies rose from 38 to 45. Many
of their activities are in the chemicals industry, however, so the importance of this
segment is actually much greater: Worldwide sales of enzymes are at about the €5
billion level, with a growth rate ranging
from five to ten percent. The advantages
of this “soft” chemistry are relatively short
development cycles, little government
regulation, and a high level of added value.
Experts estimate, however, that about €1
billion in private investment will be
needed in the next three years to enable
Germany to maintain its position as a
world leader. <
“White biotechnology is attracting more investors”
PHOTOGRAPHY: PRIVATE
The biotechnology sector can achieve double-digit growth rates, says Dr. Julia Schüler
EVONIK MAGAZINE According to the
2009 biotechnology report, the sector in
Germany finds itself in a crucial phase.
Can it become established in the future as
a key technology?
DR. JULIA SCHÜLER A lot will depend on
the duration and outcome of the economic
crisis. Although the German biotech
industry held up well last year, it is still very
young, having emerged only about ten
years ago. Development of medications
takes a long time, however. It can take
between ten and 12 years and involves
major risks. In the USA—where the
sector has existed for about 30 years—the
average annual sales growth is 15 percent.
And in the next five years it should also
be possible to achieve a growth rate in the
low double digits in Germany. Whether
or not this actually happens will depend
above all on just how successful the
25_Evonik_03-09_EN 25
companies are when it comes to channeling
the medications they have in the pipeline
through the clinical testing and regulatory
processes and onto the market.
EVONIK MAGAZINE You have
already touched on red biotechnology.
What is the outlook for white and green
biotechnology?
SCHÜLER Green biotechnology essentially has tremendous potential. The
public’s reservations are so great, however,
that many projects can’t be put in motion.
Companies in the white biotechnology
segment have it easier because they don’t
face costly and lengthy clinical tests. White
biotechnology’s impact on the chemicals
industry is felt primarily in the redesign of
production processes and the development
of new products. The segment is also
of interest to investors due to its faster,
lower-risk development processes.
EVONIK MAGAZINE Will the chemicals
industry entirely free itself of petroleumbased processes and adopt biotechnological production methods?
SCHÜLER I wouldn’t go that far. But in
many cases that process is already under
way, even in major industries. But which
production processes will prevail in the end
will be determined by criteria such as
efficiency and environmental friendliness,
integration in the overall interconnected
process and marketing factors.
Dr. Julia Schüler worked
for the auditing and
consulting firm Ernst
& Young GmbH in
Mannheim. In October
2009 she became the
Managing Director of the
BioRegion Rhein-NeckarDreieck organization.
04.09.2009 16:42:14 Uhr
CLEAN WATER
For some bacteria and molds, the contaminants in wastewater serve
as nourishment. In the sludge from sewage treatment plants, these tiny
organisms decompose organic substances such as fats and proteins.
BIOLOGICAL CHEMISTRY
A wide range of biotechnological products are manufactured on an industrial scale,
from key chemicals for the food industry to molecules for plastics. Commodities made using
biotechnological processes are replacing more and more petroleum-based products.
SKIN MOISTURIZERS
Ceramides are important components of creams and
lotions. These lipid molecules ensure that our skin
will not dry out. Today, yeast cells produce the most
important components of these ceramides in large
quantities. In the past, they had to be extracted from
plants with great effort.
NATURAL PLASTICS
Biodegradable plastics can now
even be used in composite materials
for insulation. Biotechnological
processes convert starch to glucose,
which can be processed further
to form polymer components.
FRESH CITRUS TASTE
Lemonade, iced tea, and fizzy drinks contain citric acid.
When molds are fed glucose, they expel this acidic substance.
The biotechnological variant is far cheaper than obtaining
this tingly ingredient from real lemons.
PROTECTING PLANTS
The soil-dwelling bacterium
Bacillus thuringiensis produces
a biological plant pesticide.
It is effective against various
insects but is not toxic for
other creatures. The bacterial
protein can even be used in
organic agriculture.
Biotechnology in
Everyday Life
INTOXICATING BEVERAGES
Beer and wine contain alcohol
because of yeasts. Microorganisms
produce the intoxicating substance
from sugar—a biotech process
that mankind learned to appreciate
thousands of years ago.
MEDICINAL
MICROORGANISMS
Many effective medicines
have been created by copying
naturally occurring models.
Bacteria and molds also
produce helpful substances
for medicine.
ENZYME RUST REMOVERS
Microorganisms use enzymes to absorb
iron ions. That makes them champion
cleansers. They remove the rust from
corroded screws and bolts with minimal
impact on the environment—eliminating
the need for aggressive chemicals.
We encounter products manufactured with the help of microorganisms in almost
every sphere of our lives—in soft drinks, while washing laundry, and in pharmaceutical
products. Microbiological processes are gradually replacing petrochemistry
B
acteria, molds, and yeasts are brilliant
chemists. They manage highly complex
processes within the close confines of their
cells. Their metabolism transforms raw
materials such as sugars and fats into many
other substances. The microorganisms
accumulate these products in their cells or
discharge them as “molecular waste.”
And the substances created by bacteria and
fungi can be extremely useful to human
beings. Not only can they make foods keep
longer, they can also improve their taste
and aroma. Yogurt, sauerkraut, and wine are
some familiar examples. But these days
bacteria, molds, and other microorganisms are
also helping us to maintain good hygiene, have
a successful visit to the doctor, or drive a car.
In order to make the various products
in question, microorganisms work with
specialized biochemical tools called enzymes
within an interconnected system. Biotechnological processes can therefore use either
isolated enzymes or the complete microorganisms, such as bacteria, yeasts, or molds.
One advantage of this “soft” chemistry with
enzymes is that the processes are more
environmentally friendly because they require
fewer chemicals and less energy. This
type of chemistry also makes it possible to
use alternative sources of raw materials and
manufacture new, sustainable products.
In the past ten years industry has developed
tools for using biotechnological processes,
and it is increasingly taking advantage of
these processes' benefits instead of relying on
petrochemical processes.
W O R K H O R S E S O F B I OT E C H N O L O G Y
Bacteria live everywhere.
Some types can be
cultivated to produce useful
substances.
Yeasts are single-celled
fungi. These fermentation
specialists grow by
forming daughter cells.
Enzymes can transform
substances in a fraction of a
second. These biocatalysts
occur in all living things.
Molds belong to the largest
group of organisms in
the kingdom of fungi. They
multiply through spores.
TEXT: CAROLINE ZÖRLEIN, MICHEL KÖMPF
E_21-24_Klapper_Innen 1-2
HEALTHY
FARM ANIMALS
In addition to vitamins, trace elements, and
mineral substances, modern animal feeds for pigs,
chickens, etc. also contain essential amino acids.
Bacteria produce these protein building blocks in
large quantities. The amino acid methionine
is chemically produced, but all other amino acids
are generated by bacteria.
SMOOTH
LEATHER HIDES
Enzymes can decompose
proteins. This provides a very
effective means of removing
the hair from hides and
tanning them. This increases
the quality and amount
of the leather recovered.
TASTY BREAD
The pores in light, spongy bread
are the result of yeast. During
baking, the yeast generates not
only the gas carbon dioxide
but also acetic acid and alcohols.
This is what gives baked
goods their aroma and taste.
THE BLUE IN JEANS
The “stonewashed” effect is no longer
achieved with pumice stones. Enzymes
can produce the same result, and
they consume less water and generate
hardly any waste.
STRAW TO FUEL CARS
The production of “green” fuel
from straw is still a vision, but
it is being intensively researched.
Enzymes and modified yeasts
can do the job together. First, enzymes decompose the cellulose
into smaller molecules of sugar,
which is then fermented by the
yeast cells into bioethanol.
IN THE WASHING MACHINE
Enzymes can remove egg, blood, and cocoa
stains from shirts and trousers. They decompose
starch, fats, and protein and prevent the fibers
from becoming felted. The biocatalysts also save
energy: The laundry is deeply cleansed even
at low temperatures.
Although bacteria and molds are themselves responsible
for a number of illnesses, some microorganisms also have
medicinal properties. Molds produced the first antibiotic,
penicillin. They were also used to create a large number of
related medicines that fight bacteria, such as cephalosporins
and tetracyclines. Penicillin was one of the first products
manufactured using biotechnology.
Hormones such as cortisone are also produced using
biotechnology. As a medicine, cortisone helps to
alleviate skin diseases, allergies, and rheumatism. The combination of chemical and biotechnological steps
reduces production times—and that also
helps to cut costs. Diabetics also profit from
biotechnology, because genetically
modified bacteria produce insulin in large
quantities.
Blood substitutes such as the
substances known as “dextrans” can also
be obtained from bacteria. These long
chains of sugar molecules, also called polysaccharides, can help compensate for
blood loss following operations. They fill
INSULIN
our vascular system and thus normalize the vital internal
pressure on the vascular walls. Biotechnology is also
used to create amino acids for infusion solutions that help
to nourish premature babies, for example.
Enzymes themselves can also be used for therapeutic
purposes. For instance, urokinase can dissolve blood
clots. This is helpful in the case of acute heart attacks and
strokes. Thrombin accelerates blood coagulation and
thus facilitates the closure of wounds. Other enzymes
support the digestive process. They play a role in diagnostics
as well, for example in the detection of cancer cells and
in assessments of blood sugar levels.
Bioplastics such as polylactic acid are important for
medical engineering. These biodegradable polymers can be
used as materials for implants and in tissue engineering.
Skin or cartilage cells can attach themselves to this
material and grow to form a desired shape
while the bioplastic slowly decomposes.
BLOOD PLASMA
ILLUSTRATION: GOLDEN SECTION GRAPHICS; PHOTOGRAPHY: FOTOLIA (8). ISTOCKPHOTO (2), KEYSTONE, PANTHERMEDIA (3) PICFOUR, PLAINPICTURE, SHUTTERSOCK, VARIO IMAGES
Biotech in Medicine
04.09.2009 16:09:00 Uhr
CLEAN WATER
For some bacteria and molds, the contaminants in wastewater serve
as nourishment. In the sludge from sewage treatment plants, these tiny
organisms decompose organic substances such as fats and proteins.
BIOLOGICAL CHEMISTRY
A wide range of biotechnological products are manufactured on an industrial scale,
from key chemicals for the food industry to molecules for plastics. Commodities made using
biotechnological processes are replacing more and more petroleum-based products.
SKIN MOISTURIZERS
Ceramides are important components of creams and
lotions. These lipid molecules ensure that our skin
will not dry out. Today, yeast cells produce the most
important components of these ceramides in large
quantities. In the past, they had to be extracted from
plants with great effort.
NATURAL PLASTICS
Biodegradable plastics can now
even be used in composite materials
for insulation. Biotechnological
processes convert starch to glucose,
which can be processed further
to form polymer components.
FRESH CITRUS TASTE
Lemonade, iced tea, and fizzy drinks contain citric acid.
When molds are fed glucose, they expel this acidic substance.
The biotechnological variant is far cheaper than obtaining
this tingly ingredient from real lemons.
PROTECTING PLANTS
The soil-dwelling bacterium
Bacillus thuringiensis produces
a biological plant pesticide.
It is effective against various
insects but is not toxic for
other creatures. The bacterial
protein can even be used in
organic agriculture.
Biotechnology in
Everyday Life
INTOXICATING BEVERAGES
Beer and wine contain alcohol
because of yeasts. Microorganisms
produce the intoxicating substance
from sugar—a biotech process
that mankind learned to appreciate
thousands of years ago.
MEDICINAL
MICROORGANISMS
Many effective medicines
have been created by copying
naturally occurring models.
Bacteria and molds also
produce helpful substances
for medicine.
ENZYME RUST REMOVERS
Microorganisms use enzymes to absorb
iron ions. That makes them champion
cleansers. They remove the rust from
corroded screws and bolts with minimal
impact on the environment—eliminating
the need for aggressive chemicals.
We encounter products manufactured with the help of microorganisms in almost
every sphere of our lives—in soft drinks, while washing laundry, and in pharmaceutical
products. Microbiological processes are gradually replacing petrochemistry
B
acteria, molds, and yeasts are brilliant
chemists. They manage highly complex
processes within the close confines of their
cells. Their metabolism transforms raw
materials such as sugars and fats into many
other substances. The microorganisms
accumulate these products in their cells or
discharge them as “molecular waste.”
And the substances created by bacteria and
fungi can be extremely useful to human
beings. Not only can they make foods keep
longer, they can also improve their taste
and aroma. Yogurt, sauerkraut, and wine are
some familiar examples. But these days
bacteria, molds, and other microorganisms are
also helping us to maintain good hygiene, have
a successful visit to the doctor, or drive a car.
In order to make the various products
in question, microorganisms work with
specialized biochemical tools called enzymes
within an interconnected system. Biotechnological processes can therefore use either
isolated enzymes or the complete microorganisms, such as bacteria, yeasts, or molds.
One advantage of this “soft” chemistry with
enzymes is that the processes are more
environmentally friendly because they require
fewer chemicals and less energy. This
type of chemistry also makes it possible to
use alternative sources of raw materials and
manufacture new, sustainable products.
In the past ten years industry has developed
tools for using biotechnological processes,
and it is increasingly taking advantage of
these processes' benefits instead of relying on
petrochemical processes.
W O R K H O R S E S O F B I OT E C H N O L O G Y
Bacteria live everywhere.
Some types can be
cultivated to produce useful
substances.
Yeasts are single-celled
fungi. These fermentation
specialists grow by
forming daughter cells.
Enzymes can transform
substances in a fraction of a
second. These biocatalysts
occur in all living things.
Molds belong to the largest
group of organisms in
the kingdom of fungi. They
multiply through spores.
TEXT: CAROLINE ZÖRLEIN, MICHEL KÖMPF
E_21-24_Klapper_Innen 1-2
HEALTHY
FARM ANIMALS
In addition to vitamins, trace elements, and
mineral substances, modern animal feeds for pigs,
chickens, etc. also contain essential amino acids.
Bacteria produce these protein building blocks in
large quantities. The amino acid methionine
is chemically produced, but all other amino acids
are generated by bacteria.
SMOOTH
LEATHER HIDES
Enzymes can decompose
proteins. This provides a very
effective means of removing
the hair from hides and
tanning them. This increases
the quality and amount
of the leather recovered.
TASTY BREAD
The pores in light, spongy bread
are the result of yeast. During
baking, the yeast generates not
only the gas carbon dioxide
but also acetic acid and alcohols.
This is what gives baked
goods their aroma and taste.
THE BLUE IN JEANS
The “stonewashed” effect is no longer
achieved with pumice stones. Enzymes
can produce the same result, and
they consume less water and generate
hardly any waste.
STRAW TO FUEL CARS
The production of “green” fuel
from straw is still a vision, but
it is being intensively researched.
Enzymes and modified yeasts
can do the job together. First, enzymes decompose the cellulose
into smaller molecules of sugar,
which is then fermented by the
yeast cells into bioethanol.
IN THE WASHING MACHINE
Enzymes can remove egg, blood, and cocoa
stains from shirts and trousers. They decompose
starch, fats, and protein and prevent the fibers
from becoming felted. The biocatalysts also save
energy: The laundry is deeply cleansed even
at low temperatures.
Although bacteria and molds are themselves responsible
for a number of illnesses, some microorganisms also have
medicinal properties. Molds produced the first antibiotic,
penicillin. They were also used to create a large number of
related medicines that fight bacteria, such as cephalosporins
and tetracyclines. Penicillin was one of the first products
manufactured using biotechnology.
Hormones such as cortisone are also produced using
biotechnology. As a medicine, cortisone helps to
alleviate skin diseases, allergies, and rheumatism. The combination of chemical and biotechnological steps
reduces production times—and that also
helps to cut costs. Diabetics also profit from
biotechnology, because genetically
modified bacteria produce insulin in large
quantities.
Blood substitutes such as the
substances known as “dextrans” can also
be obtained from bacteria. These long
chains of sugar molecules, also called polysaccharides, can help compensate for
blood loss following operations. They fill
INSULIN
our vascular system and thus normalize the vital internal
pressure on the vascular walls. Biotechnology is also
used to create amino acids for infusion solutions that help
to nourish premature babies, for example.
Enzymes themselves can also be used for therapeutic
purposes. For instance, urokinase can dissolve blood
clots. This is helpful in the case of acute heart attacks and
strokes. Thrombin accelerates blood coagulation and
thus facilitates the closure of wounds. Other enzymes
support the digestive process. They play a role in diagnostics
as well, for example in the detection of cancer cells and
in assessments of blood sugar levels.
Bioplastics such as polylactic acid are important for
medical engineering. These biodegradable polymers can be
used as materials for implants and in tissue engineering.
Skin or cartilage cells can attach themselves to this
material and grow to form a desired shape
while the bioplastic slowly decomposes.
BLOOD PLASMA
ILLUSTRATION: GOLDEN SECTION GRAPHICS; PHOTOGRAPHY: FOTOLIA (8). ISTOCKPHOTO (2), KEYSTONE, PANTHERMEDIA (3) PICFOUR, PLAINPICTURE, SHUTTERSOCK, VARIO IMAGES
Biotech in Medicine
04.09.2009 16:09:00 Uhr
26
The Miracle of Kamenz
The specialists at
Li-Tec manufacture
tomorrow’s
energy storage
systems under
stable atmospheric
conditions
26_Evonik_03-09_EN 26
04.09.2009 16:52:21 Uhr
KAMENZ
SHAPING 27
Twenty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the city in Saxony where Lessing was born is set to become
world-famous as the site of a battery factory that will help make zero-emission electric mobility a reality
Gotthold Ephraim
Lessing (1729–1781),
the poet of Germany’s
Age of Enlightenment,
still watches over the
city of Kamenz
27_Evonik_03-09_EN 27
04.09.2009 16:52:35 Uhr
28
dustrial park at the northern outskirts of Kamenz, the battery manufacturer was to have
led to a resurgence of the local economy.
However, after the company’s biggest stockholder suffered a fatal riding accident, Ionity
became insolvent. The real reason for this
collapse was that Ionity was unable to compete with the prices offered for cell phone
batteries by rivals from eastern Asia. The
plant in Kamenz was practically brand-new
and possessed Europe’s largest drying room,
which was needed to make batteries. Mayor
Dantz knew this facility was valuable. “We
learned back then that if you don’t succeed
the first time around, you’ll do so the second
time,” he says. In the second attempt, Frank
Maiworm, CEO of a DVD and CD manufacturer in North Rhine-Westphalia, contacted
Dr. Andreas Gutsch, who at the time headed
the research subsidiary Creavis Technologies
& Innovation at Evonik Industries AG. The
aim was to get everything done quickly, says
Gutsch, who is now CEO of Li-Tec, “which is
why we immediately got together the next
morning at six o’clock. Maiworm told me he
was considering buying the insolvent company Ionity in Kamenz in order to manufacture large lithium-ion batteries there. Two
days later we took a look at the factory in Kamenz.” And that’s how everything began.
Workers check the coated
electrode (shown here is the
anode). The film is only ten
thousandths of a millimeter thick
TEXT MICHAEL HOPP
PHOTOGRAPHY SVEN DÖRING
HORST STEUDEL was a resourceful man.
Drawing his inspiration from standard Deutz
diesel engines, his company Kamenzer Motorenwerk launched a small diesel engine
on the market with the designation “VA.” It
was equipped with an evaporation cooling
system and had an output of six horsepower
(hp). What was innovative about the engine
was that the injection pump and other sensitive parts were encapsulated to protect them
from damage. Although the new engine led to
patent disputes, it was so successful that Steudel created a modular series by launching the
8 hp VB engine and the 12 hp VC. The VC was
mainly used to drive concrete mixers—of-
28_Evonik_03-09_EN 28
WHEN OPPORTUNITY KNOCKED
ficially for the construction of the defenses
on Germany’s western frontier in 1938. In
June 1946 Steudel, a steadfast democrat, had
his property confiscated by the communists.
Even though his company was transformed
into a collective, Steudel remained at his job,
working to develop the H 65 one-cylinder
diesel engine, which later evolved into the
so-called “diesel ant.” After German reunification, Kamenzer Motorenwerk—with its remaining 240 employees—had to close down
in 1991. The plants in the area were deeply
impacted by the economic transformation.
“Thousands of jobs were lost in the region,”
says Mayor Roland Dantz in the pretty neoRenaissance city hall of Kamenz.
In 2005, a new company in the area, Ionity, collapsed. Located in the Ochsenberg in-
The rest will one day be industrial history, like
the VA diesel engine of the Kamenz-based inventor Horst Steudel. However, the new plant
will make history not only in Kamenz and the
surrounding area, but throughout the world.
“Not in our wildest dreams would we have
ever dared to think something like this could
happen,” says Dantz. “It’s putting Kamenz at
center stage, not only in Europe but worldwide.” To put it in a nutshell, Evonik had the
required separator and Kamenz had a factory
that could be used to manufacture lithiumion batteries. Two new companies were subsequently founded in Kamenz in early 2006:
Li-Tec Battery GmbH & Co. KG, which manufactures battery cells, and Evonik Litarion
GmbH, which deals with chemistry aspects.
Gutsch then moved to Kamenz, where he
lived in a trailer for a year because he had no
time to look for an apartment—but he did enjoy beautiful summer evenings at the lake. “I
saw right away that our technology had huge
04.09.2009 16:52:42 Uhr
29
potential,” he now says. “You could almost
say we are now at the point where the solar
industry was several years ago. I immediately
changed jobs when I was offered this opportunity, even though the work is in many ways
completely different.”
Lithium-ion technology was nothing new.
The new feature was the separator, which
Gutsch began to install into the batteries. The
separator consists of a ceramic-coated membrane known as SEPARION, which protects
the cells from overheating. For the first time,
it makes the large automotive batteries that
can contain more than 100 cells intrinsically
safe. As everyone who has let a laptop run too
long in battery mode will testify, heat is one
of the biggest problems of lithium-ion energy
storage systems. Says Gutsch: “The separator
was developed when I was still President of
Evonik’s research unit Creavis Technologies
& Innovation. We had developed a ceramic
membrane for treating drinking water. It was
good but expensive, so the project was about
to get axed—but then a visitor at Hannover
Messe told us the membrane would surely
make an interesting separator.”
Today the separator membrane is considered a key component in the development
of electric mobility. By protecting the cells
from overheating, it helps increase their durability. Battery cells like those manufactured
today by Li-Tec are much lighter, safer, and
more powerful than those of the past and also
have a long service life. That solves the main
problems posed by previous auto batteries,
which were heavy and had only a short range.
“The separator membrane between the anode and the cathode tolerates much higher
temperatures than previous solutions. Our
competitors commonly use separators made
of polyolefin, a plastic that melts at 120 degrees Celsius, which will cause a short circuit.” Because of its innovative battery technology, Li-Tec soon became the “hot shop” of
German industry. Without a manufacturer
of such technology in Germany, the country
would have been in danger of becoming dependent on Asian know-how in the future
development of electric mobility systems.
NUCLEUS FOR A NEW INDUSTRY
All the same, know-how still had to be brought
back from Asia, as battery production was
Lessing was baptized in St.
Mary’s Church on January 24,
1729. His father was the
Lutheran archdeacon of Kamenz
a dying industry in Germany. In the development of the new battery, Gutsch and his
colleagues attempted a science-to-business
process that could have been taken straight
out of a textbook. Many different measures
were initiated to prevent the impending loss
of innovative skill. The company endowed
a professorship, formed partnerships with
universities, and founded working groups at
the Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe research
center and the University of Münster. “We
had to make it clear that a multi-billion-euro
business was in the making and that people
had to regain the needed skills,” says Gutsch.
“And all of this is taking place now and not
sometime in the future. If we do everything
right, it will form the nucleus of a new industry in Europe.”
The pressure was huge. Although the company was the size of a typical start-up enterprise, it had taken on the spectacular role
of being Germany’s only manufacturer of
large lithium-ion battery cells for automotive purposes. “We worked day and night,”
says Gutsch describing the time when he
had only 35 employees. To make the separators, a very thin plastic underlay is coated
with a ceramic dispersion. This requires employees and machines to work with extreme
care. All in all, it took eight years until this
process was secure enough for use in production. The processes at Li-Tec are so efficient today that you’d think the company
had never done anything else. After an initial
check, the rolls pass into the heart of the factory, the drying room. “We let nobody en- >
Continued on pages 32-33
29_Evonik_03-09_EN 29
04.09.2009 16:52:51 Uhr
30
“The Battery Will One Day
Replace the Engine” Li-Tec Managing Director Dr. Andreas Gutsch provides
EVONIK MAGAZINE: You want to soon
begin the series production of batterypowered automobiles. What still has to be
done before this stage is reached?
Dr. Andreas Gutsch: The automotive industry still hasn’t given us the final approval. Several
steps still need to taken until then. For one thing, it
must be assured that the required number of batteries can actually be produced, since our partner,
Daimler, doesn’t need just 20 batteries, but several
thousand. At the end of this process is the “design
freeze,” which will happen in December 2009 or
January 2010. At that point the project will reach
the stage when we can start series production.
How many units will be produced?
We’re currently manufacturing 300,000 cells per
year, and our capacity will be ramped up to 2.3 million by 2011. In terms of their energy output these
2.3 million large cells would equate to about 90 to
100 million small cells, and that should be taken
into account when comparing us to Japanese manufacturers, for example. Although they produce
100 million cells each year, these are small ones.
How many people do you need to produce
such large numbers of cells?
Today about half of our employees are involved
in production while the rest work in development
and marketing. We’ll keep about 30 percent of our
employees in the development departments, while
the number of workers in production will not grow
at the same rate as our manufacturing output. The
total headcount will be between 600 and 800,
with an additional 150 employees at Litarion.
How will prices develop?
€10,000 is a plausible figure. The battery will be
the most expensive part of the car and will continue to be a key component of the automobile
in the future. Companies that can manufacture
good batteries can also produce cars. That’s a completely new insight for today’s automakers. The
battery will one day replace the engine.
How high will the “fuel price” of electric
mobility be?
Many figures are currently in circulation, some of
which are patently absurd. A price of €500 per
kilowatt-hour might be realistic. The price today is more in the range of €1,000 per kilowatthour. In comparison to combustion engines, the
30_Evonik_03-09_EN 30
break-even point at which an investment in a battery pays off is €300 per kilowatt-hour. This target applies to series-ready batteries that can run
for about 200,000 kilometers. We will reach that
point in 15, 20 or 25 years. If somebody says today they have a battery that only costs €250 per
kilowatt-hour, you can be sure it won’t work in
three to four years.
Various supply models and infrastructures
are currently being discussed. Which of the
many variants is realistic?
The battery is an integral part of the vehicle. In
public areas it is recharged by means of a special
infrastructure, while at home the charging is done
at a standard power socket. We don’t expect the
batteries in the cars to be replaced. Firstly, the battery is so expensive that it must be clear to whom
it belongs and who depleted it to what extent. The
system is just too valuable. Secondly, the battery
is so large that it generally will be integrated into
the vehicle’s supporting structure. What’s more,
the vehicles will tend to become lighter in the future, so the battery will play a greater role in ensuring stability. And finally, the space for installing the
battery in the vehicles is not standardized. A battery that fits into a smart is made for the smart. A
simple mechanism for swapping batteries would
require you to keep different batteries for different models on hand. There’s no way that’s going
to happen!
How long does charging take?
That depends on the power socket, not on the battery. Our batteries, for example, can be charged in
half an hour. However, batteries behave in a certain way. They’re like people in that they can walk
for longer periods than they can run. The battery
will therefore respond better if you charge it over
a span of five or six hours.
In what cycles could electric mobility achieve
a breakthrough?
The first wave of electric cars will be bought by
people who already have a socket in a suitable
place, such as their garage. However, this vehicle
will be the second or third car they have at home.
At the same time, RWE, e-on, and other companies will build up the required infrastructure in
Germany so that charging systems are available
for the broad mass of people once the second wave
of electric cars begins to roll. The only limiting factor in the next few years will be the low availability of electric vehicles. The Mitsubishi i-MiEV, a
relatively small car, is already almost sold out. If
we’re lucky, the electric smart will also become
a big seller right after series production starts.
What’s really great about electric mobility is that
it for the first time puts us in the position of creating individual mobility from renewable energies
without having to compete with the production
of food crops. The first attempt in this regard was
biofuel, which led to the debate as to whether we
should grow crops for the table or the tank. Now,
however, we can create individual mobility from
wind and sunlight. It’s a real innovation, comparable to the invention of the steam engine or the
electric motor.
What will be the further “waves”?
The vehicles will be optimized in the second wave,
which will follow about five years after the first.
This will result in larger vehicles, longer ranges,
and lower costs. That’s what the automakers are
already focusing on while they prepare for the
04.09.2009 16:53:00 Uhr
KAMENZ
SHAPING 31
a concrete vision of how electric mobility will achieve a breakthrough
launch of the first wave. The third wave will reach
the masses, offering them not only compacts but
also large-size sedans. Range will certainly still be
a problem, although range-extending measures in
the vehicle will perhaps be possible. In the fourth
wave, all of the OEMs (OEM = Original Equipment Manufacturer) will take on the next stage of
complexity and stabilize the networks. Using electric vehicles to stabilize wind power networks or
feed electricity into them is of such a high degree
of complexity that we won’t reach that stage until the fourth wave.
At which “wave” will the infrastructure be
rolled out?
The traditional mobility providers clearly have a
lot of work to do in this regard. No money is being made with electric mobility yet. Instead, it’s just
being spent and the big CRP (Continuous Replenishment Program) providers are setting up charging stations here and there. However, a wave motion will set in as confidence in the sustainability of
the market improves, and more and more money
will be spent as we proceed from wave to wave.
Do hybrid vehicles have a future?
I consider hybrids to be an intermediate solution
because they focus on cutting gasoline consumption. Hybrids aren’t economical from a production
standpoint because they incorporate two whole
systems: the entire electric drive unit plus the standard combustion engine powertrain. Hybrid models will be replaced by vehicles that have an allelectric drive train as well as an on-board generator
known as a range extender that will supply additional electricity.
How high are the CO2 emissions of electric
cars? Individuals can’t always influence the
energy mix used to produce the electricity
that comes out of the power socket.
Some people claim that homeowners will one
day be able to generate all of their electricity
themselves. If you have solar panels on the roof
it would compensate for the emissions from
driving a car for a whole year. Small wind power
systems for the garden or for the roof with an output of about 500 watts would also suffice. The
cost of photovoltaic systems is declining while ef-
Dr. Andreas Gutsch, Managing
Director of Li-Tec, presents
the innovative lithium-ion cell with
separator, which he helped
to develop. In the background is
the market square of Kamenz
31_Evonik_03-09_EN 31
ficiency is increasing. I don’t think that the public
has so far recognized the potential of decentralization with regard to the individual’s own energy management.
What is the international competition like
when it comes to innovations for creating the
best batteries?
The Japanese are as expensive as we are, and in
some cases even more so. The cells that we produce here are as good as those from Japan, and in
some ways they are even much better. The Chinese are much cheaper than we are but don’t deliver good quality.
Will lithium production become a hotly
contested market?
The amounts available today are many magnitudes
larger than what will be needed. The world’s biggest deposits on land are today in Bolivia, although
even larger deposits can be found underwater.
The sea covers billions of tons of lithium, but it’s
not an issue as long as it can be easily extracted in
Bolivia by driving a wheel loader into the sand.
There are a few metals that don’t appear in the
technology’s name that could cause bottlenecks.
You also need copper foil of such high quality that
you can’t buy it here in Europe.
How ready do you think society is to accept
electric mobility?
Everybody’s talking about electric mobility but
you can’t buy an electric car. It’s a question of when
it make sense for us to begin beating the drum. It
certainly makes little sense as long as the vehicles
aren’t available. The cars won’t appear on the road
until 2012, and I’m not sure whether consumers
can remember advertising that long. And then too,
we are also seeing the first hybrids. Besides the
Prius, there’s the S 400 Hybrid, and BMW will
launch the 7 Series hybrid. One thing you have to
consider, however, is that electric cars have a completely different emotive quality. An electric vehicle makes no noise, for example, although that
is not always a good thing. When you drive such
a car, you become aware of secondary noises you
never heard before, such as those from the hydraulic pumps or the changes in the road surface.
People would also miss going to their local gas station, where they could also buy a newspaper, for
example. <
04.09.2009 16:53:06 Uhr
32
The end of the age of oil? In Kamenz,
Antje and Ulf Berger operate
a nostalgic gas station museum
Continued from page 29
> ter this area, not even the customers,” says
Gutsch. This is done for security and safety
reasons. At several lines, the hundreds of
meters of material are cut into pieces of
varying size that rapidly fill the magazines.
Because particulates and moisture are detrimental to the production process, the workers have to wear head and mouth covers,
protective goggles, plastic slippers, and lab
coats. Robots take care of the standard separator formats (about the size of a sheet of paper), while separators with special dimensions are made by hand.
Production Director Christian Junker always has a good overview of the day’s three
shifts, as he has to control the machine processes and coordinate the work assignments
of the mostly young employees. Everyone here is on a first-name basis. Workers
and highly sensitive camera systems screen
the production line and rigorously eliminate all faulty components. The fault rate is
precisely documented in order to track improvements in the workflow. While the separators are prepared, the two other battery
components—the anode and the cathode —are
cut into identical shapes. These components
32_Evonik_03-09_EN 32
are also delivered as rolls by the adjacent
Evonik Litarion GmbH plant. As production
progresses, the groups—anode, separator,
cathode; anode, separator, cathode—are
combined to form stacks that steadily grow
in height. Thirty groups consisting of three
components each form a cell that weighs
about one kilogram. Once the stacking process is completed, each finished cell is sealed
into a special packaging film, the arrester for
the electrical connection is welded on, and
the battery is filled with the liquid electrolyte
in which the charge carriers move. “Because
the separator is good at absorbing liquid, this
process takes only a few minutes,” explains
Junker. Once the cells are finished, they are
ready for their first current. They are therefore transported to the “tower room,” where
groups of eight cells fill a “pizza plate.” A total
of 32 of these plates are automatically stacked
in the six-meter-high “tower” and connected
to the electricity supply. Says shift leader
Junker: “We marry the three components
in the first charging process.” The “wedding
night” in the tower lasts about 20 hours, after
which the cells are ready for final inspection.
Individual cells are randomly fished out of the
series and brought to the “torture chamber,”
where they are subjected to different loads,
ranging from a fast electric car sprint to a trip
across the Alps.
“We don’t just produce separators any
more. Instead, we’ve gradually built up an integrated manufacturing system that covers
all areas, from the cells, battery controls, and
packaging to the simulations and adjustments
for individual models,” explains Gutsch. He
points out that the batteries are on the eve of
being mass-produced for the world market.
“In 2011 our battery will be ready for use in
series-produced automobiles. What’s more,
it will be offered at a competitive price.”
THE CALM BEFORE THE STORM
The main reason why the battery plant was
built was Daimler’s decision in December
2008 to acquire a 49.9 percent share of Li-Tec.
Daimler CEO Dr. Dieter Zetsche didn’t wait
long to make this choice, and as a result the
plant’s workforce will grow to about 1,000
men and women over the next five to six years.
“We looked at the entire battery industry
worldwide,” he told reporters, “and we’re now
convinced that Li-Tec is the world’s leading
04.09.2009 16:53:13 Uhr
S U M M A RY
• Li-Tec Battery GmbH has been based in
Kamenz, Saxony, since 2006. The company
is Germany’s sole manufacturer of
lithium-ion battery cells for automotive use
• The battery’s separator, which protects
the cells from overheating, is essential
to the development of electric mobility
•The batteries will be ready for series
production and competitive for the world
market in 2011. The plant, in which
Daimler has a stake, will eventually have
up to 1,000 employees.
33_Evonik_03-09_EN 33
SHAPING 33
Nine Big Questions
About Electric Mobility
Where can I recharge the car? What do charging stations look like?
What kind of infrastructure can I expect? These questions produced
many ideas, the most important of which are described here
1 How are electric cars recharged?
The filling stations of the future will offer
not gasoline or diesel but electricity. A
standardized power socket already exists
for the “electric pump.” The voltage level
has also been set at 400 volts, a voltage
that is already used today for the connections to household electric ranges. It
therefore would not be a big problem to
equip garages, parking lots, and carports
with the requisite power sockets. This
solution would have the advantage of
shortening the charging time to about two
hours, compared to the 12 hours needed
at standard household sockets. Besides the
need to install the right house connecting
lines, public areas also have to be quickly
fitted with additional charging stations.
RWE has already set up 56 charging
points in Berlin (Germany) and plans to
increase this number to 500 by mid-2010.
“It’s the biggest project of this kind
worldwide,” says Dr. Rolf Martin Schmitz,
Board of Management member of RWE
AG. The stations are being set up at
locations where cars get parked, such as
parking garages. The project is being
planned by APCOA Autoparking GmbH,
Siemens, Sixt, and the German automobile
club ADAC. Meanwhile, similar programs
are under way in Hamburg, Düsseldorf,
Frankfurt, Stuttgart, and Munich. Vattenfall and E.ON are also involved in projects
to install charging stations for electric
mobility applications. In the future,
electricity stations could also be set up at
company parking lots or event venues.
PHOTOGRAPHY: RWE
supplier of lithium-ion technology.” The result is a happy ending that still involves a lot of
hard work. On the grounds next to the plant,
Deutsche Accumotive GmbH & Co. KG is
currently setting up a facility that will assemble the Li-Tec cells into batteries.
The clever people of Kamenz also have
a part to play in all this. They’ve unexpectedly found themselves involved in the almost
inconceivable dynamism resulting from the
global innovation boost of a key industry. The
market for electric car batteries is expected
to grow from $900 million today to between
$10 billion and $15 billion in 2015, and it will
grow even faster in subsequent years. At the
moment, it is still the quiet before the storm.
Beatrice Schäfer, a chemist who works in the
Development department, says that although
she feels she’s part of something very special, she doesn’t have that feeling 24 hours a
day: “Most of the time it’s just a normal job,
though it’s unusual that we can’t read up on
what we’re doing here in any textbooks.” At
their small gas station museum at the edge of
town, Antje and Ulf Berger are preparing the
people of Kamenz for the end of the age of oil,
which seems especially close here. Gutsch
views the people of Kamenz as the “Swabians
of the East” in reference to the proverbial ingenuity and thriftiness of the inhabitants of
southwestern Germany. Mayor Dantz emphasizes the long tradition of machine production in the region and points out that the
people here are known for their diligence
and ambition and their appreciation of talent
over wealth. In this case it seems that talent
and wealth are coming together. The people
of Kamenz have regained something they’ve
missed for quite some time: a future. <
KAMENZ
Energy would be supplied to the cars by power sockets instead of fuel hoses.
04.09.2009 16:53:20 Uhr
INSPIRING
FILLING STATIONS OF THE FUTURE
2 Are there alternatives
to charging stations?
Instead of waiting ages for the battery to
recharge, it might be better to replace the
entire battery unit, according to a business
idea developed by the US company Better
Place, which is also involved in creating the
charging station infrastructure. Ideally,
changing the battery would be quicker than
filling up with gasoline. In this system, the
motorist drives onto an automatic platform,
where a robot arm removes the depleted
battery and replaces it with a fully charged
one. Such battery-switching stations
could be integrated into the existing filling
station network, while the power could
be marketed in a manner similar to that
used for cell phones, requiring customers
to purchase kilometers instead of call units.
Better Place currently operates in Israel,
Denmark, Australia, Canada, and the US
states of California and Hawaii. The company also has plans to expand to Germany.
Researchers from South Korea are testing another alternative, based on contactfree charging while the vehicle is moving
slowly or stationary in city traffic. Developed by the Korea Advanced Institute
of Science and Technology in Daejeon, the
system transmits energy using magnetic
fields. A similar form of inductive charging
is used, for example, in battery toothbrushes. For the test route in Seoul, strips
measuring 20 to 90 centimeters wide and
several hundred meters long were installed
into the road surface. Trials with buses are
scheduled to commence in Seoul this fall.
34_Evonik_03-09_EN 34
3 What kinds of electric vehicles
are there?
Parallel hybrid
Combustion
engine
Electric
motor
Battery
Clutch Transmission Fuel tank
Vehicles with parallel hybrid drives have
a conventional internal combustion
engine. The electric motor primarily
plays a supporting role by, for example,
providing a boost during acceleration
or when starting the car. The motor
reduces fuel consumption, but can
only propel the vehicle on its own for
a few meters.
Series hybrid
Combustion
engine
Fuel tank
Battery
Electric motor
Series hybrids can cover longer
distances solely with electric power.
The combustion engine in these
vehicles only serves as a range
extender and helps to recharge the
battery.
Generator
Electric drive
All-electric cars have no combustion
engine and produce no emissions
or noise. Yet, their efficiency is high.
Their range depends on the battery’s
capacity.
Battery
Electric motor
Fuel cell
Tank Fuel cell
Electric motor
The fuel cell is like an alternative
battery. Using a suitable fuel such as
hydrogen, the fuel cell generates
power for the electric drive. The
vehicle’s range is dependent on the
capacity of the fuel tank.
ILLUSTRATION: DR. DIETER DUNEKA; SOURCE: DER SPIEGEL
34
04.09.2009 17:03:13 Uhr
35
The biggest electric carmakers
SOURCE: DELOITTE
Smith Electric Vehicle (UK)
Vehicle sales in 2008 (units)
800
Tesla (USA)
600
ZAP (USA)
580
REVA (India)
500
Think (Norway)
500
Citycom/Smiles AG (Germany)
360
Zenn (Canada)
211
Hafslunds ASA/ Elbil Norge (Norway)
190
Twike (Germany)
133
Miles Electric Vehicles (USA)
125
In 2008, the sector
was dominated
by small, relatively
unknown companies
rather than by traditional
automakers. These
electric vehicle pioneers
are still manufacturing
small numbers of units
4 How does billing
work?
5 What is the battery’s
range?
6 How can governments help?
Power companies are developing
innovative products that will offer the
same rates whether the user is at home
or on the road. As is the case with cell
phones, the companies will offer flat
rates and guaranteed prices. Automatic
authentication occurs via the battery
charger leads, the automobile logs on
and sends its data directly to the charging station. The latter then compares
this information with the customer
data and starts the charging process.
The amount of energy supplied to the
battery is measured and assigned to
the customer’s account. In another
scenario, customers could charge their
batteries at low rates at night and then
sell this electricity back to the grid
at a higher price during times of peak
demand. An energy reserve would
remain in the battery so that the driver
could still return home. This approach
would enable networks to effectively
use electricity for which there is no
immediate demand. In particular, the
planned offshore wind parks would
benefit from such a setup. The driver
might not even have to buy the
battery, which is the most expensive
component of an electric vehicle,
but could instead lease it from the
power company.
The lithium-ion battery has paved the
way for the widespread use of electric
cars. Various manufacturers are
working on further refining the battery, among them the Evonik Industries
subsidiary Li-Tec Battery GmbH, which
is based in Kamenz, Germany. The
battery’s power and size directly affects
the electric car’s range. Electric cars
are currently the optimum automobiles
for short distances, making them
ideal for many commuters. In fact, 80
percent of all car trips cover less
than 20 kilometers. Mass production of
lithium-ion batteries for automobiles
is scheduled to begin in 2010. The
batteries will give electric cars a range
of 150 to 250 kilometers.
Late last year, four German ministries
submitted a national electric mobility
strategy. The strategy’s overarching
objective is to make Germany the
world’s leading market for this promising sector. To promote the development of the required car batteries,
Germany established Lithium-Ion
Battery 2015 (LIB 2015), an innovative
alliance, which the Federal Ministry
of Research is supporting to the tune
of €60 million in funding. A further
€360 million will be provided by the
industrial companies involved in this
alliance, including Evonik Industries
AG and Li-Tec. Other research activities costing hundreds of millions
of euros will improve the vehicle technology and the network integration.
In addition to supporting ongoing
research projects, the Germany government will provide €500 million
for electric mobility from 2009 to
2011 as part of its second economic
stimulus package.
35_Evonik_03-09_EN 35
The lithium-ion cell
with a ceramic
membrane separator
is accelerating
the development of
electric mobility
04.09.2009 17:09:10 Uhr
36
Forecast: Electric cars on Germany’s roads
SOURCE: ROLAND BERGER
2,500,000
290,000
31,000
2012
2015
2020
7 Does more electricity not result in more
carbon dioxide?
PHOTOGRAPHY: PHOTOGRAPHYLIA
Electric mobility
improves the
utilization of wind
farms
36_Evonik_03-09_EN 36
A precondition for achieving environmentally compatible electric mobility is
the rapid expansion of renewable
sources of energy. To this end, the German government has initiated an ambitious plan to ensure that up to 30
percent of the electricity generated by
2020 will come from renewable sources.
The biggest share will be provided by
the expansion of wind energy. Germany
currently has plans to install wind parks
in the North and Baltic Seas with a total
output of more than 27,000 megawatts.
“The planned increase in the use of
renewable energies will require huge
storage capacities to ensure stable mains
operation,” says Wolfgang Glaunsinger,
an energy expert at the German Association for Electrical, Electronic and Information Technologies (VDE). Electric
vehicles could play a key role here, not
only as energy consumers, but also
as suppliers, depending on wind strength
and grid load. The benefits for the
environment are obvious, as electric
vehicles using stored wind energy
produce no CO2 emissions. What’s more,
electric motors are extremely efficient:
“Electric drive systems have a batteryto-wheel efficiency of 85 to 90 percent,
whereas combustion engines have an
efficiency of less than 25 percent,” says
Dr. Martin März, spokesman of the Power
Electronics and Electrical Drive Technology topic area of the Fraunhofer project
on Electric Mobility Systems Research.
8 What are the fundamental advantages of
electric mobility?
Dispensing with diesel and gasoline has
many benefits, since electric drives reduce
CO2 emissions if the electricity is produced from alternative sources of energy.
Electric drives also reduce our dependence on imported oil. For Germany, electric drives would also have the advantage
that the country’s automakers could substantially strengthen their market position
by supplying innovative technologies
for this sector. In addition, electric drives
would reduce the amount of noise,
emissions and particulates in inner cities
and urban areas.
Electric-powered
super sports car
Mercedes-AMG GmbH wants to launch an
electric drive version of its new SLS
“gullwing” by 2014. The car will be equipped
with four electric motors, with a combined
output of 392 kilowatts at a torque of
880 newtonmeters. The vehicle is expected
to accelerate from 0 to 100 kilometers per hour
in just four seconds. The modular lithium-ion
batteries are located in the front, in the center
tunnel and behind the seats. This solution
gives the vehicle a low center of gravity and a
balanced weight distribution. But because
the electric components weigh over 600
kilograms, the Mercedes SLS AMG eDrive
will weigh a total of almost two metric
tons. Despite this weight, the car is expected to
attain a top speed of 200 kilometers per hour.
04.09.2009 17:03:22 Uhr
37
A wide variety of charging possibilities
Several years ago, the International Electrotechnical Commission
(IEC) drew up recommendations for standards for battery
charger leads and sockets. In principle, it would be possible to charge
up electric vehicles with electricity from conventional sockets.
However, in practice it would require up to 12 hours to charge the
battery of a compact car because the amperage is limited to ten
Standard plug
and socket
Standard house
connection line
amperes and the voltage to 230 Volts. Charging is considerably
faster at 16 amperes and 400 Volts, which are the values that many
household electric ranges use. In the future, quick charging
stations operating at 32 amperes and 400 Volts will be found both
at home and at public parking lots. These charging stations will also
be able to communicate for billing purposes.
Standardized sockets with different outputs
per minute
10 16
0
32
Ampere
10 16
0
32
SOURCE: ARNO MATHOY, BRUSA ELEKTRONIK; ILLUSTRATIONS DR. DIETER DUNEKA
Ampere
10 16
0
32
Ampere
10 16
0
32
Ampere
9 How quickly will electric vehicles take over our roads?
According to experts, lithium-ion batteries will be suitable for mass market as
of 2011. Many carmakers have announced
that they will begin to manufacture their
first series-produced electric cars in
the same year. A broad range of vehicles
that meet various customer demands
should become available in 2012 or 2013.
RWE expects the charging infrastructure
to be rapidly expanded as of 2015. This
will not only happen in big urban areas
such as Berlin and the Rhine-Ruhr region,
but also in smaller cities. Governments
37_Evonik_03-09_EN 37
are helping to fund this development, for
which they are also creating the general
preconditions. In the European Union
(EU), for example, the fleet average CO2
emissions of new vehicles registered
beginning in 2015 may not exceed 120
grams per kilometer (g/km). In 2020,
this value will be cut further to 95 g/km.
Manufacturers who fail to meet these
requirements will face stiff penalties of billions of euros. The only way these targets
can be reached in a cost efficient manner is
to use more hybrid and electric vehicles.
The German government is therefore
calling for the use of at least one
million electric vehicles in 2020. RWE
is meanwhile forecasting that up to
2.5 million vehicles will be electric by
then, representing almost five percent of
the total number of vehicles and 25 percent
of new vehicle registrations. Professor
Gernot Spiegelberg, who is responsible for
electric mobility at Siemens Corporate
Technology, is even more optimistic:
“I expect that Germany alone will have 4.5
million electric cars by 2020,” he says.
04.09.2009 17:03:26 Uhr
38
LIVING
PLEXIGLAS
Making a Deal with the Sun
“Intelligent” blinds made of PLEXIGLAS let sunlight in but keep heat out, creating a comfortable interior
TEXT KLAUS JOPP
FOR DAYS the hot sun has been beating
lar radiation, along with its heat component, while at the same time allowing diffuse light to penetrate into the building,
thus ensuring natural interior illumination. “Pure comfort” could well serve as
a slogan for this outstanding innovation,
which makes use of the special properties
of PLEXIGLAS, the primary material used
to make the blinds.
Regardless of whether in an office, factory, school, apartment, or store—when interior temperatures rise above 25 degrees
Celsius, occupants will find it harder to do
PHOTOGRAPHY: PETER NOSSEK
down from a cloudless sky. By early morning the temperature on the second floor of
Hans Hansen’s one-family house has already climbed to over 30 degrees Celsius.
The freelance graphic artist—a specialist
in turning technical matters into clear images—shakes his head and sighs: He needs
to finish a complex illustration before the
day is through, but he can barely work in
these temperatures. “If the light wasn’t so
bad in the basement I could draw down
there,” he thinks to himself.
This year an alternative became available for people who find themselves in
Hansen’s situation—a solution that combines a unique sun-protection feature
with a pleasant interior light effect. The
product, Prisma Reflect, is a system developed by the company Prismaplex GmbH
& Co. KG in Brandenburg, Germany. It
consists of vertical blinds whose highly
precise, linear 90° prisms achieve nearly
complete reflection of direct incoming so-
38_Evonik_03-09_EN 38
04.09.2009 17:38:37 Uhr
39
climate and ensuring high energy efficiency
their jobs. Germany’s workplace guidelines recommend a maximum temperature of 26 degrees Celsius—but they don’t
require workers to be sent home when
temperatures exceed that level. They do,
however, require that protective measures
against the effects of direct sunlight are to
be taken for windows, skylights, and glass
walls.
Buildings currently account for approximately 40 percent of global energy
consumption and 21 percent of greenhouse gas emissions. These figures are
usually associated with the use of heating and lighting systems in buildings. In
sunny regions such as Spain or California,
however, most of the energy consumed in
buildings is fed into air conditioning systems that compensate for the heat from
the sun. In the USA as a whole (including
“cold” states such as Alaska and Washington), 21 percent of all energy is consumed by residences, while 18 percent is
consumed in offices. And air conditioners account for ten and 13 percent of consumption, respectively.
So energy conservation, particularly in summer months, should also involve keeping the
heat from the sun out of buildings. An innovative solution for this has been developed
by Prismaplex with the help of Evonik Industries AG—one partner for machine construction, one for materials expertise.
IMPRINTING FINE STRUCTURES
INTO PLEXIGLAS
The two companies’ cooperation has resulted in new possibilities for protecting buildings against energy from the sun >
Matthias and Uwe Kark of Prismaplex have a clear vision: Their lamellae eliminate the need for energy guzzling air conditioners
39_Evonik_03-09_EN 39
04.09.2009 17:38:44 Uhr
40
PLEXIGLAS lamellae serving as design elements at a bank in Hall (Austria): The lamellae conceal the actual floor height while creating an airy and transparent
Can greenhouses also be used as power plants?
40_Evonik_03-09_EN 40
Developers had been struggling with this
challenge for around 40 years, because conventional material-processing techniques
such as hot pressing and injection molding
didn’t consistently produce the desired results. In many cases, quality was not sufficient because the casting of the structures
on large surfaces was either too uneven or
too coarse.
Reflecting
Giving the transparent PLEXIGLAS
sheets a 90° prismatic structure results
in a total reflection of the incoming
direct sunlight, which is what heats up
the interiors of buildings. Diffuse
daylight, on the
other hand, is still
able to penetrate
the lamellae without
any difficulty. This
results in an optimal
interior climate
that reduces the
energy costs for air
conditioning use
and keeps lighting
costs low.
ILLUSTRATION: PICFOUR
PHOTOGRAPHY: ANGELO KAUNAT
> and for utilizing that same solar energy.
The basis for this approach is sheets made
of Evonik’s PLEXIGLAS material, into
which structures can be imprinted with a
high degree of precision, thanks to a new
process.
These sheets can be produced in any
length. And, depending on their specific
surface structure, they can be used to reflect, focus, or diffuse sunlight. This in turn
necessitates the use of small, extremely precise prisms—and after five years of extensive
work, Prismaplex succeeded in developing
to the series production stage a globally patented procedure that makes it possible to
manufacture the sheets and their special
surfaces in a continual process.
Diverting light with prisms, mirrors,
or lenses is nothing new, of course, but attempts in the past to do so over large areas repeatedly ran up against technical
obstacles. “Either the plastics could only
be produced in sizes that were too small
or the costs were so high that any application was prohibitively expensive,” explains Matthias Kark, Managing Director
of Prismaplex. Now, however, a way has
been found to utilize “intelligent” blinds to
create an optimal interior climate that can
lead to a significant reduction in climate
control costs, while also keeping down the
costs of lighting.
The man behind the success that was finally achieved is Peter Nawrath, who is now
99 years old. It was back in the 1960s that
Nawrath developed the idea of giving prismatic structures to sheets made of PLEXIGLAS. The resulting optical effect can be
utilized in many ways because the prism
sheets reflect the hot direct radiation of the
sun while still letting light through. The approach was never actually implemented
until Prismaplex and Evonik got together,
however. Kark knows a lot about building
high-quality industrial machines: His company Kark AG is the world market leader
for composite rolling technology used in
hot rolling mills.
It was therefore only logical that the
Hamburg-based Kark AG would solve the
main problem associated with the processing of PLEXIGLAS for such an application—given that a continually moveable
molding tool was needed to produce the
precise optical structures, while the material had to shrink in such a way that the fine
structures would survive the contraction
of the plastic molecules during the cooling phase.
That demands a lot of the machine design and construction—and of the PLEXIGLAS molding compound. “You need to
have a very low melt viscosity and special f low properties, which we achieve
04.09.2009 17:38:50 Uhr
41
Greenhouses offer an area of 1.8 billion square meters for solar energy applications
entrance area
PHOTOGRAPHY: FOTOLIA
THE MATERIAL CAN DO
MUCH MORE
An optimal interior climate makes not
only people feel good but also plants. The
world’s greenhouses have a total area of
approximately 1.8 billion square meters—
so it makes sense to also use these transparent structures to obtain energy by “turning greenhouses into power plants.”
41_Evonik_03-09_EN 41
Focusing
ILLUSTRATION: DR. DIETER DUNEKA
by using customized chemical formulations,” reports Peter Battenhausen, a
Business Development Manager at Evonik’s Performance Polymers Business Unit
whose work focuses on solar applications
for PLEXIGLAS. A whole range of molding compounds were tested during the
development phase, but it became clear
that standard solutions could not provide
the required molding precision. What’s
more, the recipe that is used must take
into account not only processing properties but also additional quality criteria related to optical transparency and weather
resistance.
The PLEXIGLAS sheets that are now
being produced can be up to one meter
in width and of any desired length, and
they are generally two millimeters thick.
Prismaplex produces the sheets in the
town of Beetzsee in the German state of
Brandenburg.
It’s also possible to focus sunlight
instead of reflecting it. This is accomplished by imprinting the PLEXIGLAS
sheets with linear Fresnel structures.
If lenses of this typeare used to cover
greenhouse roofs, then the roof area
can, for example, be used
to generate
electrical
energy for
watering
systems or to
collect heat
energy to provide overnight
heating.
If the right glazing is used, light reflection—shading—can be combined with light
concentration to produce energy. Because
sheets made of PLEXIGLAS don’t block diffuse daylight, but do prevent the high-intensity direct sunlight from falling on the
plants, they also create a positive climate in
the greenhouse that promotes plant growth.
Such an approach can also be utilized to gen-
erate electricity for watering systems or to
collect heat energy for overnight heating.
Imprinting “Fresnel” structures rather
than prisms onto PLEXIGLAS causes the
material to stop protecting against the
sun’s rays and to begin instead to focus even more of them. That’s why such
PLEXIGLAS systems can be used to concentrate sunlight onto photovoltaic solar cells that directly convert sunlight
into electricity. In any case, the application possibilities for the material include
everything from keeping office workers
cool to heating up concentrating photovoltaic elements. Put simply, it all depends on
which type of structure is imprinted into
the material. <
S U M M A RY
• Depending on their structure,
Prismaplex’ innovative, transparent sheets
made of PLEXIGLAS produced by
Evonik can either reflect or focus sunlight.
• With the help of prisms, blinds reflect
the sun’s radiation but let through light.
• Fresnel lenses focus solar radiation
for use with solar cells or in solar-thermal
power plants.
• Light-reflecting and -focusing systems
can be combined to obtain energy
in structures such as greenhouses.
04.09.2009 17:38:56 Uhr
42
EXPERIENCING
FAMILY AND CAREER
More Family Time
The Hertie Foundation has certified Evonik Industries as a “family-friendly
company” following an audit. In this article you’ll find out why a family-oriented
corporate policy safeguards the future—and what its details look like
TEXT MICHAEL HOPP/JANE KÄHLER
PHOTOGRAPHY MATTHIAS JUNG
HAPPY FAMILIES ARE ALL ALIKE,
but every unhappy family is unhappy in its
own way.” This famous quote from Leo Tolstoy applies to today’s families in reverse.
A certain level of family “unhappiness”
is imposed today by our social structure,
whereas family “happiness” and its prerequisites seem to be very individual. One
factor making for unhappiness is the wellknown difficulty of harmonizing family
and career, which mostly burdens working
mothers. Young people are generally convinced that raising children can’t be reconciled with the demands of an ambitious career, and many of them prefer to remain
childless. For a long time now, Germany’s
birthrate has been declining; in 2008, the
last year for which we have statistics, it
reached a new low after decreasing by a further 1.1 percent. Approximately 675,000
babies were born in 2008—the lowest level
in history and about 8,000 fewer than in
2007. At the same time, 20,000 more people died in 2008 than in 2007, further reducing the total population and speeding up the graying of German society. Dr.
Ursula von der Leyen, the Federal Minister of Family Affairs, launched a new trend
in family policy by expanding the childcare >
42_Evonik_03-09_EN 42
In the “Marlino” childcare center
It’s 7:30 a.m. Elias, Paula, Eda, and Konrad romp in the hallway and four-year-old
Fabian quietly looks at a picture book while the table is set for breakfast. It’s “bringing
time” at the “Marlino” childcare center in Marl, and a fresh candle is burning to
celebrate the new day. Almost 50 children—30 at a time—are cared for here by six
kindergarten teachers. And that number is increasing. Recently a woman in her seventh
week of pregnancy showed up to put her unborn child on the waiting list. Word of the
center’s benefits has gotten around. The children have set pickup times, but if a parent
is delayed a phone call is usually enough to straighten things out. “It’s all a matter of
organization,” says the center’s director, Angelika Coppik. It also helps that the center is
subsidized by the Evonik Industries AG subsidiary Infracor GmbH. The opening
hours and the subsidy are negotiated directly with the company according to employee
needs, so it’s no surprise that almost all the children come from Evonik families. In
the Kinderland group, the children aged 3 and up listen to the “Story Frog.” After lunch
the “big” children take a nap and Fabian goes back to his book. In the afternoon Fabian
and his teacher pick up Fabian’s brother Max from his all-day school. The three of them
go to the boys’ home and stay there until the parents come home from work. “It’s been
a long day for the kids—after all, they’ve spent it outside their own four walls,” says
their mother, Dr. Petra Lomme-Roth, Head of Production at the butanediol plant in
Marl. “Marlino” is a blessing for her, as she returned to full-time work in August 2008.
“It works only because Marlino is so flexible and offers a pickup service,” she says.
The keyword is “flexibility,” because childcare at “Marlino” is organized according to the
families’ needs. That can be seen in the children’s broad age range. For example,
eight-year-old Tilda comes here after school, while Paula has been coming to “Marlino”
since she was six months old. “Marlino“ was founded in 2007 by Infracor, the church
foundation Step M, and cooperation partner di.it project management.
04.09.2009 17:52:35 Uhr
43
43_Evonik_03-09_EN 43
04.09.2009 17:52:38 Uhr
44
44_Evonik_03-09_EN 44
04.09.2009 17:52:39 Uhr
FAMILY AND CAREER
EXPERIENCING 45
Swapping Germany for China
After two weeks in Shanghai, Markus Franke, 17, has brought back with him his exchange partner,
16-year-old Jialin. The two teenagers are exhausted from the nearly nine-hour flight, the transfers,
and the waiting times, but Markus is looking forward to seeing his parents again, as he’s got a lot to tell
them. Jialin is looking forward to getting to know Germany, as he’s never been on another continent.
But today they’re not even interested in going out for dinner in a restaurant. A few days later, Markus
reminisces about his experiences with Chinese cuisine. He wasn’t too keen on chicken claws and
sheep’s eyes, but he loved the Chinese breakfasts of rice with vegetables. He’s also become adept with
chopsticks. And that’s an incentive for his mother Claudia Franke to make some typical German
meals for Jialin: leberkäse, Sunday roasts, and sauerkraut. Markus has seen many Shanghai highlights
such as the Yuyuan Garden and the Jin Mao Building, and Jialin now can’t wait to explore Cologne,
Düsseldorf, and the Marl Chemistry Park, where Markus’ father works at Evonik as a chemistry
specialist. Markus and Jialin have really bonded during the two weeks they spent together in Shanghai,
as both of them are enthusiastic about sports and technology. “We feel almost like brothers,” they say.
> allowance. Since January 1, 2007, mothers
or fathers of newborns can receive up to 67
percent of their previous salary for a maximum of 14 months. The principle behind
this policy is that the desire to have children
should not be frustrated for purely material
reasons. However, research has shown that
the childcare allowance is most effective for
families at the lower economic levels, who
may come to regard having more children
as a substitute for earned income—whereas
highly qualified working women continue
to have few children. “The childcare allowance is not an incentive for me at all,” says
a young woman business manager in Berlin. “It might help me in the short term for
maybe two years, but it can’t compensate
for the risk that I won’t be able to return to
my career.” But even if it were a success, the
childcare allowance could only be an initial
step. “It only makes sense as a bridge if it’s
followed up by adequate childcare,” says the
social researcher Prof. Klaus Hurrelmann,
who teaches at the Hertie School of Governance in Berlin. It’s true that Germany’s
coalition government has passed a law that
from 2013 every child will have the right to
a place in a childcare center from his or her
first birthday on, but it won’t really be possible to harmonize family and career until
the schools provide more all-day supervision. Only then will mothers really have an
45_Evonik_03-09_EN 45
opportunity to do more than the part-time
work that in many cases prevents them from
having a real career.
A TINY SEEDLING
Isolated solutions are not very effective in
the extremely complex interweaving of
family and career that results in “absolutely
normal madness.” Many different adjustments have to made. Ursula von der Leyen
also admits that public policy can only provide “a tiny seedling” which will thrive only
if “society and business” are striving toward
the same goals. However, these goals are simultaneously vague and concrete. Iris Radisch, a mother of three and head of the literature department at the newspaper Die
Zeit, has written Die Schule der Frauen.
Wie wir die Familie neu erfinden (School
for Women: How to Reinvent the Family).
She says, “The family will survive the era
characterized by an equal right to work only
if it receives the protection granted to every
animal species that is threatened by human
progress. In the case of the family, it’s not
so much the physical space that needs protection. It’s the time the family has for living together.” Only if people have more time
can they meet the needs of small children
or provide (the increasingly numerous) old
people with more care. Whereas politicians
like Ursula von der Leyen actively promote >
04.09.2009 17:52:42 Uhr
46
> their initiatives in the media, the public is
less aware of the role played by companies
and the business community in preserving
the family in an era when both fathers and
mothers work outside the home. But this situation is due to change in the future.
Almost 70 percent of women in Germany
now work, and they face the question of how
to harmonize family and career every single
day. Two-career families have become a reality in our society, but our society has not
adjusted to it. Not only are there not enough
childcare facilities, but the resulting burdens
are distributed unfairly within the families.
Studies have shown that the women who are
especially successful in their careers also do
a disproportionately large amount of housework. “The emancipated working woman
easily falls into disrepute,” warns Iris Radisch. Even though young women are better educated today, they can’t make this pay
off in terms of their careers and incomes, because motherhood inevitably slows down a
career. However, personal happiness can be
found only in a successful balance of fulfilling work and a happy family life. In order to
find this balance, one important player has
to join the game: the employer.
FAMILY AS A SUCCESS FACTOR
Looking for advice—and finding it
Sabine Schmidt-Bott has once again helped someone out. This time it was a
woman employee with a mother who needs home care. The home help she has
now isn’t enough. She’d like to give her mother more support without giving
up her career, so she wanted to know if she could apply for more nursing care.
Schmidt-Bott knows the answers to such questions, she can fill out the complicated
application, and she also has something else this woman urgently needs: serenity
and empathy. She advises employees who have relatives needing care, and she does
so wherever her clients want to meet: at their workplace in the Evonik building
in Essen or elsewhere, because anonymity is important. That’s another reason why
Evonik employees don’t have to go far to find advice and assistance. “Our office
is at the heart of the Evonik campus. People can decide for themselves how
confidential their meetings should be,” says the social worker Christiane Kortmann.
The services offered by the Evonik social counseling office include mediation,
psychosocial counseling, and health-promoting measures. Evonik has also been
cooperating since 2007 with the Diakoniewerk Essen, a church-based social
services organization, to provide advice nationwide on relatives needing care.
Schmidt-Bott, who works for the Diakoniewerk, is a specialist in this area.
46_Evonik_03-09_EN 46
Evonik has dealt with this issue with particular care, knowing how easily isolated measures become ineffective. One step it took
was to sign the declaration “Family as a success factor” in April 2008. The company
program of the Federal Ministry of Family
Affairs aims—together with the top German business associations and the Confederation of German Trade Unions (DGB)—
to create comprehensive family-friendly
working conditions with the help of networking, competitions, and support programs. The next stage was reached in June
2009 when Evonik was certified as a family-friendly company by the Hertie Foundation. The certification was preceded by
an extensive auditing process supported by
the heads of personnel in the HR, Social Policy & Affairs unit of the Corporate Center—
Ulrich Bormann, Patricia Vogt, and Roland
Dittrich: “On the basis of the findings, we
agreed with the nonprofit Hertie Foundation on a set of goals that we would reach in
the next three years.” In the auditing pro- >
04.09.2009 17:52:44 Uhr
FAMILY AND CAREER
EXPERIENCING 47
A school year in Brazil
Cachoeiro de Itapemirim—Sophia Bolte had never heard of it before, but from August 2009 she will
live in this city of 200,000 located 400 kilometers north of Rio de Janeiro. The 16-year-old schoolgirl
from Dorsten, Germany, will spend the next school year here. Her father Christoph is an engineer at
Evonik Steag GmbH—luckily for her, as her year in Brazil will be financed by an Evonik scholarship. Sophia has always wanted an exchange year in South America, as she has made friends with Brazilians
through her church community. Before she leaves for her year abroad she practices her Portuguese vocabulary with a friend from Brazil. Her lime-green room at home is full of swimming trophies and stacks
of travel guides, dictionaries, and application forms. She’s busy packing and making decisions, for she
can only take along 20 kilos of belongings plus her carry-on bag. “Fortunately, I only need summer
things because in the winter it’s seldom colder than 17 °C,” she says. She’ll leave her flute at home but
swimming won’t be a problem, as her new home isn’t far from the sea. In her host family, two sisters, a
brother, and three dogs are waiting for her. That will make it easier to part from her parents, sister Helena, and dog Amy. She’s not anxious about the trip but is afraid of getting fat, as people have told her
she’s sure to gain at least 3 kilos in Brazil. Her host mother has already asked her what she likes to eat.
47_Evonik_03-09_EN 47
04.09.2009 17:52:46 Uhr
48
EXPERIENCING
FAMILY AND CAREER
A full vacation agenda
It’s a hot summer day in Oberhausen, and the master blacksmith Ralf Albustin has set up his massive steel
hearth in a shady corner of the Rhineland Museum of Industry and Social History. Under a canopy, he’s
waiting for the children participating in the Evonik vacation program, who today will be listening to stories
about iron, steel, and coal. A half-hour later he really breaks out in a sweat, because 60 children are
crowding around him and the hearth, which has already reached a temperature of 1,100° C. Each of the
children wants to take home a custom-made item. The girls are clamoring for horseshoes, and Albustin
agrees to make a simple version for them. Even so, he can hardly meet the demand. When the children
leave at 4 p.m., he has made 60 nails, knives, and horseshoes for them. Mara (12) and her brother
Max (11) have a horseshoe each, and Mara’s friend Manon announces, “A blacksmith’s work is fun and it’s
not too hard to do.” Next, the children take a look at the exhibition. Models of blast furnaces, coke
plants, and slag heaps tell the children something about their region’s history. Tomorrow Mara, Max, and
Manon will once again board the Evonik bus at the old canteen in Essen for the next part of the
vacation program. In the next few weeks there’ll be a lot to see and do, including visits to the Movie
Park in Bottrop, the zoo in Gelsenkirchen, and a high ropes course.
> cess, previous measures were evaluated
and the need for new measures was determined. Today there is especially lively activity in the following areas:
• Childcare facilities at Evonik locations to
make it easier for parents to return to their
jobs after the birth of a child. Parents are also
assisted in their search for child minders.
• Flexible worktime models such as part-time
jobs, job sharing, and teleworking to help
young parents find time for their families.
• Caring for sick or disabled family members
can become just as serious a problem as
childcare for working people. Today more
than two million people in Germany require
care, and more than two thirds of them are
cared for at home. Two thirds of the family
members who provide care are of working
age. Evonik offers these families comprehensive counseling and support through its
cooperation with the Diakonie, a churchbased welfare organization.
• Vacation programs, scholarships, and exchange programs help working parents
solve the “vacation problem,” as working
parents’ days off don’t cover the children’s
84 to 94 vacation days (depending on which
federal state they go to school in). Exchange
programs in particular give children a shot
of education and new experiences that in
many cases they’ll never forget.
48_Evonik_03-09_EN 48
But isn’t financial support for these measures a luxury? No, it isn’t. “Good people
go to the competition if family-friendliness
is allowed to fall victim to the crisis,” says
Roland Dittrich, Head of the HR Social Policy & Affairs unit. Ralf Blauth, a member
of Evonik’s Executive Board and Chief Human Resources Officer, agrees: “The ability
to combine family and career has become
a competitive factor for every company.”
The research center “Family-conscious HR
Policy” at the University of Münster and the
Steinbeis University Berlin (FFP) have documented the good effects of family-conscious
HR policies on business management. In a
survey of 1,001 companies in 2008, they
found that family-friendly companies score
26 percent higher with applicants than companies not considered family-friendly; family-friendly companies have more productive and better-motivated workers (plus 17
percent) and 14 percent lower reintegration
costs; the employees have lower absenteeism rates (minus 16 percent) and 11 percent
lower illness rates.
The Hertie Foundation’s seal of quality is an honor for Evonik, but it also represents the company’s obligation to expand
and consolidate its existing family-friendly
measures. Many pieces of the puzzle have to
be put together before the image of a familyfriendly company is complete. <
04.09.2009 17:52:48 Uhr
49
49_Evonik_03-09_EN 49
04.09.2009 17:52:50 Uhr
KNOWING
ILLUSTRATION: DIGITAL VISION
50
In Pursuit of the Big Bang
TOM SCHIMMECK on the hunt for elementary particles
THE YOUNG PHYSICIST knew pretty well what to expect. Even
so, the first time Regina Caputo laid eyes on the huge experimental
apparatus, it dawned on her at once: “You can’t do this alone.”
The 25-year-old from Pueblo (Colorado, USA) is currently working at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, in
Geneva, Switzerland. This may be the craziest place in Europe, and
it's definitely the world’s largest physics laboratory, where 7,000
scientists from over 80 countries are involved in the hunt for elementary particles, the very smallest constituents of our universe.
An atom, by comparison, is enormous, and even its nucleus, made
up of protons and neutrons, is a pretty massive structure. Then
come the quarks, after which the names get more and more exotic:
gravitons, photons, gluons, and bosons. The Higgs boson, for
example, is right at the top of the wanted list. That’s because it's
responsible for giving mass to the other subatomic particles.
Caputo is a member of the Atlas project, along with some 2,500
other physicists. Atlas is one of the large detectors installed at the
world’s newest particle accelerator, the LHC (Large Hadron Collider). When you stand in front of Atlas, it’s easy to understand why
it left Caputo almost speechless. The detector
is some 46 meters long, 25 meters high, and
weighs in at approximately 7,000 metric tons.
In more graphic terms, Atlas is half as big as
the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris and as
heavy as the Eiffel Tower.
“I want to find out what makes the world tick,” Caputo explains.
After an internship at Fermilab, the US counterpart of CERN, near
Chicago (Illinois), she knew her vocation: to join the hunt for the
particles of the so-called Standard Model, which provides an explanation of what holds our universe together in its innermost structure. “It’s a phenomenal theory,” she says. “One that goes to the very
foundations.”
The predicament of the particle physicist is easily summarized:
The smaller the particle, the greater is the research effort required
to detect it. Atlas is one of six large-scale experiments at the LHC,
the world’s largest and fastest storage ring. Installed in a 27-kilometer ring-shaped tunnel on the French-Swiss border, it uses electrical and magnetic fields to charge the particles with energy and
make them circulate. Proton beams in the LHC will attain the
momentum of a 400-ton train traveling at 150 kilometers per
hour. Beams traveling in opposing directions are then made to
collide, thus creating conditions similar to those that existed around
0.00000000000001 seconds after the big bang. The energy liberated in this collision should result—true to the Einsteinian equation
E=mc2—in the creation of matter in the form of new particles, which
can then be detected by highly specialized detectors, of which
Atlas is one. These will measure the trajectory, energy, and magnetic deflection of such particles.
Researchers at CERN are also involved in other outlandish
experiments, including the search for antimatter and a project that
involves firing neutrino beams underground to fellow physicists
in Gran Sasso, Italy, 730 kilometers away.
After a quarter of a century of planning and construction, the
LHC was to commence operation in September 2008. However, a
fault shortly after startup caused substantial damage to the cooling
system, forcing a temporary shutdown. Later, leaks were discovered in two of the eight sectors of the vacuum for the accelerator.
Operation is now scheduled to commence in winter 2009. “We’re
all on tenterhooks here!” says Caputo.
Even without such incidents, particle physicists require tremendous patience. Progress is painstaking, and the amount of data is
enormous. All the data generated by the Atlas
detector would fill around 100,000 CDs every
second. Only a fraction of that is actually recorded—the equivalent of around 27 CDs a
minute. So it's no surprise that the need to exchange information among particle physicists at different locations
around the globe led to the invention at CERN, back in 1990, of
something from which we all benefit today: the World Wide Web.
Particle physics research began in Geneva in 1957. Since then, the
experiments have become ever bigger and more complex. As Caputo explains, patience is an important part of this business. “Our
quest is to find the answer—and then to come up with a whole world
of new questions.” After graduating with degrees in physics and
computer science from the Colorado School of Mines in Golden
(Colorado, USA), she moved to the State University of New York at
Stony Brook (New York, USA). Here at CERN she is working on the
Liquid Argon Calorimeter, one of the Atlas detectors.
“It’s an unbelievable experience to work in this huge research
complex,” she says. But the most fascinating thing about it all,
she adds, is “the joint endeavor.” Atlas comes across like a “small,
virtual UN.” Solving the fundamental mysteries of the universe
requires huge teams: “You really depend on each other.” And often
she feels really proud to just be part of it all.
“I want to find out what
makes the world tick.”
Tom Schimmeck, 49, finds it fascinating to look at the laboratories of the future. He writes for taz, Tempo,
Spiegel, and Die Woche. The illustration is an abstract, computer-generated digital composition.
50_Evonik_03-09_EN Abs2:50
04.09.2009 19:21:22 Uhr
Evonik Worldwide
A journey around the world to international Evonik locations
Austria
USA
Evonik’s new
alkoxides plant
in Alabama is
preparing the
company for the
U.S. biodiesel
market
Switzerland
Visionary
PLEXIGLAS
projects in
Styria and
Tyrol
The International Sales
department in
Zürich supports
Business Units
in the various
regions
China
The world’s
biggest trompel’oeil fresco
used Evonik
colorants
India
Brazil
Evonik supports
Brazil’s “green”
energy balance
through the
construction,
design,
construction
management,
and operation
of power plants
51_Evonik_03-09_EN 51
Italy
Evonik
maintains a
multi-user site
in Merano, as
photovoltaics
are booming in
Italy
The Pharma
Polymers
Business Line is
fostering the
development of
innovative and
affordable
medications in
Bombay
South Korea
An Evonik plant
in South Korea
supplies the
super carbon
black created in a
German-Korean
team effort
07.09.2009 11:36:08 Uhr
52
EVONIK GLOBAL
Energy Buffer for the
“World’s Farm”
B
razil’s wealth of natural resources has
made South America’s largest, most
populous nation an agricultural superpower. The country feeds the world—with
soy, corn, meat, coffee, and pulp—and is in
many cases by far the world’s leading
source of those products. But it also supplies valuable raw materials, including iron
ore, nickel, and aluminum, as well as manufactured goods like cars, steel, and electronics. This diverse portfolio ensures
strong sales, even in hard times for global
business. Brazil’s economy safely navigated
the storms of the economic crisis—the
automotive industry, for example, will post
growth of about six percent this year.
The country’s broad range of resources
and products also is reflected in Evonik’s
activities in Brazil: production of environmentally friendly bleaching agents for the
pulp industry, chemical products for manufacturers of agrochemicals such as fungicides and herbicides, important amino acids for animal feed, catalysts for making
biodiesel, and energy services for the
power utilities sector. Evonik’s activities in
the country, where it has been active for
over 50 years, are thus highly diversified.
That’s paying off—and it will pay off even
more in the future because the “world’s
farm” is playing an increasingly vital role.
This will be ensured by the growing
importance of renewable raw materials,
especially renewable energy sources.
BRAZIL’S GREEN BALANCE
Brazil’s primary energy requirement
Clean energy
balance: Brazil uses
renewable energy to
cover over 46% of its
primary energy requirement for industry,
mobility, heating, and
electricity
Nuclear
energy
1.6%
C oal
6%
Other
renewable
sources 3%
52_Evonik_03-09_EN 52
Natural
gas
9.6%
Other
biomass
12.4 %
Hydroelectric
power
14.7 %
SOURCE: UNICA, 2007 ILLUSTRATION: PICFOUR
Sugar cane
16 %
Oil
36.7%
Brazil has the cleanest energy balance of
any industrialized nation or emerging market: It already covers over 46 percent of its
entire primary energy requirement—for industry, mobility, heating, and electricity—
with renewable energy. In the European
Union (EU) renewable energy accounts for
between six and seven percent of the energy requirement on average; the figure for
Germany is around seven percent. Major
shares of the renewable energy mix in Brazil are generated with biodiesel and with
ethanol from sugar cane. Nearly all cars in
the country can run on ethanol because
they are “flex-fuel” vehicles, which run on
gasoline and ethanol. Within five years after the introduction of this new technology
in 2003, 92 percent of automobiles on the
market had been converted to flex-fuel.
That’s great for the economy and the environment because ethanol operation cuts
CO2 emissions by about 90 percent.
PHOTOGRAPHY: CORBIS
B R A Z I L The country is the “greenest” of the emerging nations. And Evonik, with
its broad portfolio of products and services, is helping to ensure that the clean energy
balance can keep up with the requirements of a rapidly growing economic power
Soy bean harvest in the state of Mato Grosso. Brazil is
The electricity sector also is a big contributor to the green balance sheet: Brazil gets
between 80 and 85 percent of its electricity
from clean hydropower. An impressive figure, but it also reveals hydropower’s biggest
drawback: The different amounts of precipitation in the rainy and dry seasons cause
big fluctuations. Some of the difference can
be made up with green power generation,
using biomass from pressed sugar cane fibers. This “bagasse” can be used for thermal electricity generation. Sugar cane is
mostly harvested and processed in the driest time of year, so most of the fuel becomes
available when water is at the lowest ebb, a
good example of how different renewable
energy types complement one another.
Expanding industrial production and rising prosperity increase the energy requirement—and bagasse alone no longer suffices
to compensate for fluctuations in electricity production. This is where Evonik comes
in. “Since 2002 we have been operating a
natural gas power plant in Canoas, near the
port city of Porto Alegre,” says Guillermo
di Michele, Head of Evonik Energy Services
in Brazil. The plant, which is at the end of
a Bolivian natural gas pipeline, generates
07.09.2009 11:38:14 Uhr
BRAZIL
SWITZERLAND 53
“Solutions for Complex
Customer Issues”
S W I T Z E R L A N D All the world’s a stage for the International Sales department. The
Zurich-based unit has been providing support to the regional sales representatives of the
individual Business Units for the past year. Dr. Volker Grunwald heads International Sales
Mr. Grunwald, why is there a need for your
International Sales department in addition
to the sales representatives at the individual
Business Units?
electricity for the surrounding region and
for export to Argentina. What’s more, a
blast furnace-gas and steam power plant is
now being built as part of a steel mill in
Santa Cruz, a little over 60 kilometers west
of Rio de Janeiro. Evonik operates the plant
for its owner, ThyssenKrupp. Evonik Energy Services handled the technical planning for the power plant and has been
providing support with construction work
since 2007. “These power plants primarily
supply energy for industry and help to
buffer fluctuations in power generation,”
di Michele explains.
In the spring of 2009 the Evonik Group
also signed a five-year framework agreement with MPX Energia S.A. for provision
of energy services. A publicly traded power
utility, MPX Energia S.A. is planning to
build natural gas and coal-fired power
plants in Brazil and Chile in the years ahead,
with a total output of about 9,000 megawatts (MW). Evonik Energy Services will
be involved in everything from planning
and construction management to operation—keys to ensuring that Brazil’s green
energy balance keeps up with the requirements of a growing economic power. <
53_Evonik_03-09_EN 53
What is there to be gained by that?
We are concentrating our sales on the
right distributors and intensifying our
cooperation with respect to small customers in particular, thus allowing us to
focus on our core competencies. We
screen the markets and carefully assess
our sales partners until we know who
is a good fit for us and for our products. In
collaboration with the Region, we recently developed a sales concept for the
USA, Canada, and Mexico, and we will
now begin to identify and assess the most
suitable potential sales partners. We are
not focusing on individual Business Units
or product lines; instead we are taking a
comprehensive approach that more effectively leverages the strengths of Evonik to
help achieve sustainable growth. <
Can you cite an example of that?
International chemical sales are changing.
On the one side, we have strategic customers and key accounts; on the other
side there are the distributors. These two
sales channels are experiencing faster
global growth than the market as a whole.
Classic sales, however, are lagging behind
by comparison. We are in the process
of dramatically changing how we work
together with distributors. In Eastern
Europe we have been working with 120
the second-biggest producer of soy beans
Because we look at the markets from a
perspective that encompasses the viewpoints of the Business Units. The demands
that the global sales team in the Chemicals
Business Area has to face are becoming
more and more challenging. Simply pitching the products of your own Business
Unit is no longer enough—today you have
to develop solutions for complex customer issues. This requires a lot of expertise; you need to have precise knowledge
of the markets, the players, and the
trends. Our expertise helps the Business
Units. We take care of bundling activities
that cross Business Unit and regional
boundaries and thus can exploit greater
potential for growth in the medium to
long term.
companies that resell our products.
Soon there will only be five remaining.
They know what’s happening in the
Mexican market and how to more
effectively reach customers in Eastern
Europe: Dr. Volker Grunwald heads
the International Sales department
07.09.2009 11:38:22 Uhr
54
EVONIK GLOBAL
Ready for
the Boom in
Biodiesel
U S A Evonik’s new alkoxide plant in
Alabama is good news for the growing
biodiesel market and for the environment
PHOTOGRAPHY. FROM LEFT: EVONIK INDUSTRIES, SKYZONE-CHRISTOPHE GAY
J
ust nine months after ground was broken,
Evonik’s new alkoxide plant in Mobile
(Alabama, USA) was ready to come on
stream in February of this year. The facility
is geared up to supply the US biodiesel
industry with approximately 60,000 metric
tons a year of this specialty catalyst, which
is based on sodium methylate. “There’s
not enough demand to take up our
full capacity yet,” explains Stefan Welbers,
who is responsible for the North American
business with this catalyst. In the interim,
the plant will operate on a batch basis.
“That’s our big advantage,” says Welbers.
“We use a special process involving reactive distillation. This means we can ramp
up production very quickly and therefore
react flexibly to changes in the level of
demand.” Demand is destined to rise in the
medium term, with the percentage of
biodiesel required to be blended into regular diesel in the USA due to be increased
next year. A total of 1.15 billion gallons of
biodiesel will be blended through the
end of 2010. Furthermore, the plans of
President Obama call for even more. <
Fifty muralists and colorants from Evonik helped create the illusion of a European street scene
in Shanghai (China)
Putting Color into
China’s Boulevards
C H I N A A spectacular mural painted on the façade of a department store has
Shanghai shoppers rubbing their eyes in disbelief. With the help of colorants from
Evonik, it successfully blurs the boundary between reality and illusion.
T
The new alkoxide facility in Mobile (USA) has
the flexibility to react to changes in demand
54_Evonik_03-09_EN 54
rompe-l’oeil is a French expression
that literally means “deceive the
eye.” It describes a technique of painting
especially popular during the Renaissance,
whereby depicted objects appear to
be in three dimensions. It has now been
employed to create a new façade for
Carrefour’s Shanghai Wuning Store in
China. In four months of painstakingly
detailed work, a total of 50 French
muralists have created the world’s largest
trompe-l’oeil fresco—a street scene the
size of soccer field.
The paints for this giant optical illusion
came from PPG Architectural Coatings.
Here as elsewhere, the paint manufacturer
employed COLORTREND-brand colorants
from Evonik Industries AG. <
04.09.2009 18:09:24 Uhr
CHINA
AUSTRIA
“Black Art” and Teamwork
without Borders
S O U T H K O R E A NEROX, a super carbon black that can keep any inkjet printer
producing deep blacks for months, is the result of a German-Korean team effort.
The 60-country market for the product is served by an Evonik plant in South Korea
uccess has many fathers, as the saying
goes—and this is also usually the case
with regard to modern feats of engineering. Today’s technological innovations in
fact generally result from teamwork
directed toward a clear goal. The development of NEROX was no different: The
innovative carbon black from Evonik was
created through an international partnership between Evonik researchers from
Kalscheuren (Germany) and their
colleagues in Yeosu (South Korea) in
response to specific customer requests.
But first things first:
Carbon black consists of specially manufactured soot particles and is among the
most important industrial raw materials.
Evonik is one of the world’s leading producers of this material. Carbon black forms
through the incomplete combustion
of aromatic oils or other hydrocarbons at
temperatures well above 1,000 degrees
Celsius. The tiny soot particles thus
created can display completely different
properties depending on their size,
composition, and surface structure. The
“black art” that Evonik has mastered
involves manipulating and regulating these
properties through the careful selection
of starting materials and manufacturing and
processing techniques. Evonik currently
produces 80 different types of carbon
black at 17 locations worldwide; the applications for these materials are extremely
diverse: They can be found in car tires,
where they ensure a high level of abrasion
resistance and good resilience, and they
are also used with synthetic leather, paints,
and printer inks to produce particularly
deep shades of black.
55_Evonik_03-09_EN 55
Putting soot to use is nothing new—the
ancient Romans, Greeks, and Chinese utilized it for paint, ink, and mascara.
Meanwhile, the development of soot-based
materials continues unabated. Today,
Evonik is able to produce primary particles
of carbon black roughly 1,000 times
thinner than a human hair. At the same
time, particle surfaces can be precisely set
using certain oxidation processes—and this
was the starting point for the work carried
out by Evonik’s German-Korean research
team. The continually expanding market
for carbon black begun demanding materials with a high level of optical (color) depth
and improved dispersion properties. The
latter involves the distribution and wetting
behavior of pigments in paint, which is
also a key indicator of quality.
“The idea originated here in Korea,”
says Moo-Jong Song, one of the “fathers”
of NEROX. It was also in Korea that a
pilot reactor was built and experiments
were conducted with product samples.
“However, the project’s rapid success was
mostly due to an intensive exchange of information with colleagues in Kalscheuren
and Hanau (Germany), with whom we
kept in constant contact,” Moo-Jong Song
explains. This resulted in the team’s
being able to even more precisely set the
properties of carbon black with the
help of a completely new—and top secret—
oxidation process. For example, NEROX
can also perfectly wet the binders in
UV-curing printer cartridges, which used
to be a big problem in the industry. Longterm stability has been improved as well,
something that will make owners of inkjet
printers happy, since they can now look
forward to months of printing with deep
blacks. “This development gives us a clear
competitive advantage and establishes
a win-win situation for our customers and
end consumers,” says Moo-Jong Song.
Acceptance of NEROX on the carbon
black market was so positive that it was
launched in around 60 countries within
just a short period of time. However,
because the largest growth markets are in
Asia, Evonik decided to establish its
new manufacturing facility in Yeosu,
South Korea. It goes without saying that
German and Korean partners also
worked hand in hand to scale production
to industrial requirements. It was a
tremendous international team effort,
from the original concept to research and
market launch. <
Carbon black: Puts a gloss
on synthetic leather and makes car
tires more comfortable
PHOTOGRAPHY: PICFOUR
S
SOUTH KOREA 55
04.09.2009 20:26:49 Uhr
56
EVONIK GLOBAL
Innovative Medicine
for the World
I
ndia is overwhelming. Mark Twain
called it the most extraordinary country
on Earth, and every Westerner who
travels to India can empathize with him:
the people, the smells, the colors, the
languages. The country has a population
of roughly 1.2 billion, more than twice
as many as in the entire European Union—
on less than three-fourths of the area.
India lives in other dimensions. When
Indian statistics refer to the poorest or
richest five percent of the population, the
number of people corresponds to the
total population of France. The upwardly
mobile middle class currently includes
more than 200 million and is still growing.
Nor does India lend itself to comparison
with the West when it comes to the
economic crisis. “Of course we were also
affected here,” reports Matthias Hau,
Regional President for Evonik Industries
in India, “but sales since March have
essentially been at the level of the previous
year.” The international financial press is
also astonished at how Brazil, China, and
India are apparently dragging themselves
back up onto their feet while Europe and
the USA are still debating whether their
stimulus packages were large enough.
The three BRIC nations can thank
strong domestic demand and demand
among themselves for the quick recovery.
China, for example, has replaced the
USA as the largest market for Brazilian
exports and is the largest supplier to India.
Furthermore, the sheer size of the economies and their low level of reliance on exports protect them from Western trends.
PHOTOGRAPHY: INDIAPICTURE
COUNTERING THE CRISIS WITH
PHARMACEUTICALS
Nurses distribute medicines to Ganga Sagar
pilgrims at a camp in Kolkata (India)
56_Evonik_03-09_EN 56
In the case of India, yet another factor is at
work. One of India’s largest growth markets has been largely immune to the crisis
worldwide: the pharmaceuticals industry.
This is true particularly for production
of generics, meaning production of drugs
whose patent protection has expired.
Health care is getting better all over the
world—but also more expensive, making
cheap medicines a hit export.
In this case “cheap” doesn’t mean
inferior. India not only meets the same
standards as Western pharmaceutical
companies; it is also very active in
research and development, which is also
reflected in Evonik’s activities in India.
Chemicals production and energy
account for the majority of the Essen-
PHOTOGRAPHY: GETTY IMAGES
I N D I A An important growth industry has withstood the crisis: production of
drugs for the global market. Evonik is fostering the development of innovations in
Mumbai (India) with its Pharma Polymers Business Line
In the Cipla lab in Mumbai (India): Products from India’s
versions of AIDS drugs by Western pharmaceutical firms
based Group’s sales on the subcontinent.
The roughly 500 employees in the region
generate annual revenues of approximately €120 million, primarily with the
production of silicic acid and sales of
amino acids for animal feed and chemical
intermediates. The greatest effort is
being put forth by the Pharma Polymers
Business Line, however. The predecessor
companies to Evonik have been actively
working to develop new drugs in Mumbai
since 1998. Evonik established a center
for research and development, marketing, and technical service here in 2002.
Total area: 1,200 square meters. Back in
2007 it already was necessary to double
the laboratory floor space. “This isn’t
simply an extended workbench; real
development work is being conducted
here,” says Regional President Hau.
Evonik’s strength is pharmaceutical
polymers—highly specialized materials
used as auxiliaries for medical active substances. These materials enable precise
release of active substances—at certain
locations in the body or over a certain
period in defined dosages. Using pharmaceutical polymers, new and improved
drugs can be developed with “old” active
substances.
04.09.2009 18:35:28 Uhr
INDIA
ITALY 57
Sunny Prospects Thanks to
Efficient Material Flows
I TA LY Even if the sun doesn’t always shine, Evonik and MEMC—one of the leading
manufacturers of electronic and solar wafers—are preparing to produce chlorosilane and
polycrystalline silicon at a multi-user site in Merano
second-largest pharmaceutical company include generic
that are affordable for the Third World
Evonik is also working on another innovation in India: The Group is collaborating with an equipment manufacturer
to establish melt extrusion in the pharmaceuticals industry. In the melt extrusion
process, the plastic is mixed with the
active substances and then pressed
through a die with them. The extruded
strand can then be cut into small pieces.
Long an established process used in
the production of plastics, melt extrusion
is an entirely new approach for the
production of pharmaceuticals and offers
numerous advantages. The most important of these: The melt extrusion process
prevents crystallization of the active
substance, allowing it to better maintain
its solubility—an unbeatable advantage
that results in improved absorption of the
active substances by the body.
With this technology, Evonik is
making it possible to cost-effectively
produce and develop drugs while staking
its claim in a dynamic pharmaceuticals
market. Many high-revenue drugs will
be losing their patent protection in the
years ahead, promising large gains for the
production of generics. The beneficiaries
of this are the Indian economy, Evonik,
and patients around the world. <
57_Evonik_03-09_EN 57
vonik Industries AG and MEMC
Electronic Materials, Inc. (St. Peters,
Missouri, USA) are banking on the global,
long-term trend toward solar power.
A multi-user site is under construction in
the northern Italian city of Merano, at
the location of the solar silicon manufacturer MEMC Electronic Materials S.p.A.
Here, Evonik will supply the trichlorosilane
(TCS) required for the production of pure
solar silicon. And in return, MEMC will
provide Evonik with hydrogen chloride
(HCl), a byproduct of the silicon production.
The hydrogen chloride is a valuable raw
material for the production of TCS. Evonik
deploys this efficient cycle worldwide,
including at a planned facility in Yokkaichi
(Japan) for the production of monosilane
for thin-film modules.
But what sets Italy apart as a photovoltaic
center? Solar energy has undergone
explosive growth in Italy in recent years.
GSE (Gestore Servizi Elettrici), a stateowned company, announced that the
installed capacity will double to 900 megawatts (MW) in 2009. This after a gain
of 338 MW in 2008—the third-largest increase worldwide.
The reason for the boom, aside from
the high insolation, is the generous subsidies in accord with the “Conto Energia”
subsidy act, which since 2007 has been
supporting primarily end consumers with
small photovoltaic (PV) systems. This
is one way that Italy is trying to reduce its
dependence on imported energy.
One impediment so far to installing solar
systems has been the listing of buildings
as historic monuments. Dark solar panels
amid the sea of red terra cotta roofing
tiles would distract from the scenery. The
Italian firm REM S.p.A. has now invented
a “PV-active roofing tile” with a shape and
color resembling those of typical tiles.
The “TechTiles” make it possible to convert
solar energy into electricity on the roofs of
listed buildings, whether with photovoltaic
or solar thermal modules.
In addition to being easily connectable
via a plug connection, the cells work
independently of one another. The covers
themselves are transparent and allow more
than 90 percent of the required light spectrum to pass. To keep the internal elements
of the tiles from view, the cover underside
is finely structured, allowing a lot of light
to enter; but almost no light comes out. The
tiles are inconspicuous, easy to use, and—
thanks to PLEXIGLAS—weather resistant.
Other tile shapes, say for Germany, are
already in the planning stage. <
A solar tile resembling
the tiles that have been
used for centuries in the
Mediterranean region.
The “TechTiles” conceal
their high-tech internal
elements under a cover
made of PLEXIGLAS
ILLUSTRATION: DR. DIETER DUNEKA,
PHOTOGRAPHY: REM ENERGY
E
04.09.2009 18:35:36 Uhr
58
EVONIK GLOBAL
AUSTRIA
Clever Facades for
Buildings with Vision
A U S T R I A PLEXIGLAS is playing an increasingly important role in the energy and light
management of new buildings. Visionary projects can be seen in Styria and Tyrol
A
rchitect Walter Niedrist, who was
commissioned with the construction
of a new building for a regional bank in
the Austrian town of Hall in Tyrol, found
himself between modernity and history.
“The new building was supposed to stand
out from its surroundings but without
overwhelming either the historical or the
newer buildings,” says Niedrist. His
solution: to hide its true floor-to-floor
height. The architect designed a flexible
sun screen with louvers made from
PLEXIGLAS SATINICE that fold out in
response to the lighting conditions
and can wrap around the building like a
cover. When folded out, the plates made
by Evonik allow a sufficient amount
of diffuse light to enter the building, while
also protecting it from the warming rays
of the sun or unwanted glances. The architects chose PLEXIGLAS for the 1,504
sheets. The façade must be able to withstand daunting weather conditions and
should not yellow even after years of expo-
sure to the sun. Proof that these criteria
can be met is provided by another futuristic
building nearly 500 kilometers to the
east in Styria. The Gemini house was built
here ten years ago in the small town of
Weiz. The perfectly round home produces
more energy than its residents consume.
Not only is it equipped with solar collectors
and large sun windows, it also turns during
the day to stay aligned with the sun and
so guarantee the maximum light yield. The
design, which has won numerous prizes,
dates back to the early 1990s.
PHOTOGRAPHY: TOURISMUS.WEIZ
ENERGY EFFICIENT AND
BEAUTIFUL
It wasn’t built until somewhat later,
however. In 1998, the city of Weiz commissioned the architect Erwin Kaltenegger
with its construction. Instead of the
outer aluminum paneling specified in the
original plans, he chose a solar honeycomb façade. This comprises tubes
measuring five centimeters long and five
millimeters in diameter arranged in
the shape of a honeycomb. The inner end
rests against the building, and the outer
end is sealed with a transparent sheet.
This creates an air space that absorbs the
sun’s energy during the day and releases it
again in the chill of the night. “For this
principle to work, the cover sheet has to
be translucent,” explains Kaltenegger.
“That’s why we chose PLEXIGLAS, which
looks good, too.” In other words, the
clever façade isn’t just a pretty fact that
keeps the interior at a comfortable
temperature; thanks to PLEXIGLAS it will
also be able to stand up to the wind,
weather and rays of the sun for decades—
here in Styria as well as in Tyrol. <
DISPATCHES
Methionine expansion
Mobile (Alabama, USA) and Antwerp
(Belgium) Evonik Industries is further expanding its global production capacity for
the feed additive methionine. Methionine
and raw material capacities at the three
locations in Antwerp (Belgium), Wesseling
(Germany), and Mobile (Alabama, USA)
are being substantially increased as part
of a coordinated, multi-stage expansion
program. The additional capacity will
become successively available between
2011 and 2013. As a result, Evonik
will increase its global capacity to a total
of 430,000 metric tons.
Award-winning wall covering
Essen (Germany) The “ccflex” wall covering from Evonik Industries AG combines
the properties of tile and wallpaper.
Robust, yet flexible; water-repellent, yet
breathable; it doesn’t burn, yet it can be
printed on. Transport and storage costs are
lower than with conventional tile, and production releases only around one-tenth of
the CO2 emissions. The “tile on a roll” has
already won three design prizes and the
product has also now been awarded first
prize in the “Ruhr 2030 Award” presented
by the Ruhr Region Initiative for being an
outstanding interdisciplinary innovation.
Industrial Recycling
Mobile (Alabama, USA) At its location
in Mobile, Alabama, Evonik Industries is a
member of the Partners for Environmental Progress (PEP) group, which promotes
industrial recycling. Evonik already supplies byproducts from its own production
lines to other companies, which use these
byproducts for the manufacture of fuels
and fertilizers. Thanks to this side business,
Evonik saves more than €500,000
annually while at the same time reducing
its residual waste by 3,000 tons a
year. PEP aims to expand environmentally
friendly and economical exchange
programs like this one by organizing conferences and other events.
The completely round “Gemini”
house produces more energy than
its residents consume
58_Evonik_03-09_EN 58
04.09.2009 18:24:10 Uhr
www.evonik.com
Who makes sure that pigs eat well?
We do.
Whether for pigs, poultry or cattle, we produce natureidentical amino acids for healthy animal nutrition. We are
the creative industrial group from Germany active in the
fields of Chemicals, Energy and Real Estate. With over
100 production sites in around 30 countries, we are one
of the world’s leading providers of specialty chemicals.
www.evonik.com
Who develops
wallpapers that repel water?
We do.
We produce flexible ceramics off the roll – for
use as water-repellent wallcoverings. With over
100 production sites in around 30 countries,
we are one of the world’s leading players in the
profitable specialty chemicals market. We are
the creative industrial group from Germany active
in the fields of Chemicals, Energy and Real Estate.
218165_Tapetenschiff_EvMag_EN.indd 1
09.10.2008 8:15:30 Uhr

- Evonik Magazine 3/2009

Transcription

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