SGL Group Launches Carbon Heat Storage System Worldwide

12-18-2012 SGL Group Launches Carbon Heat Storage System Worldwide Highly efficient carbon-based heat storage system for industrial processes

Heat capacity of up to 3 MWh with a power of 1 MW

Modularly expandable system solution

Wiesbaden/Meitingen, December 18, 2012. SGL Group The Carbon Company has developed an innovative heat storage system in response to industrial companies' growing demands for optimal heat and energy utilization. The system debuted at this year's ACHEMA in Frankfurt and is now launched worldwide. A module can store up to 3 MWh of heat energy, which equates to roughly the same amount of energy consumed by a private two-person household per year and achieves a charge and discharge power of 1 MW. The SGL system can store process heat at a temperature level of 100-350C and reuse it at a later time. The heat recovery rate is usually over 90%. The system is primarily suited for discontinuous processes; the more charges and discharges a day, the more efficient the system.

Frank Wittchen, Head of the Process Technology Business Unit at SGL Group: The key advantage of our new heat storage technology is the rapid charge and discharge times, which enable up to 12 cycles a day. Carbon also makes the difference here and generates considerably higher energy yields and thus cost savings for our customers. We see the core applications in the process industry, and in solar-thermal and co-generation power plants.

The storage of the heat energy is achieved by using so called phase-change materials (PCM). These are salts capable of absorbing and releasing large amounts of heat at melting point without changing in terms of temperature. The battery contains a special carbon structure, which ensures that the heat transfer occurs 100 times faster than with a pure PCM material.

More than 60% of sales in the Process Technology (PT) Business Unit can be accounted for by products and systems that contribute to CO2 reduction and sustainable production in the chemical and related industries.

About SGL Group The Carbon Company SGL Group is one of the world's leading manufacturers of carbon-based products and materials. It has a comprehensive portfolio ranging from carbon and graphite products to carbon fibers and composites. SGL Group's core competencies are its expertise in high-temperature technology as well as its applications and engineering know-how gained over many years. These competencies enable the Company to make full use of its broad material base. SGL Group's carbon-based materials combine several unique properties such as very good electrical and thermal conductivity, heat and corrosion resistance as well as high mechanical strength combined with low weight. Due to industrialization in the growth regions of Asia and Latin America and increased substitution of traditional with innovative materials, there is a growing demand for SGL Group's high-performance materials and products. Products from SGL Group are used predominantly in the steel, aluminum, automotive and chemical industries as well as in the semiconductor, solar and LED sectors and in lithium-ion batteries. Carbon-based materials and products are also being used increasingly in the wind power, aerospace and defenseindustries.

With 48 production sites in Europe, North America and Asia as well as a service network covering more than 100 countries, SGL Group is a company with a global presence. In 2011, the Company's workforce of around 6,500 employees generated sales of 1,540 million. The Company's head office is located in Wiesbaden.

Further information on the SGL Group can be found online at: www.sglgroup.com.

Important note: This press release may contain forward-looking statements based on the information currently available to us and on our current projections and assumptions. By nature, forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, as a consequence of which actual developments and results can deviate significantly from these forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are not to be understood as guarantees. Rather, future developments and results depend on a number of factors; they entail various risks and unanticipated circumstances and are based on assumptions which may prove to be inaccurate. These risks and uncertainties include, for example, unforeseeable changes in political, economic, legal, and business conditions, particularly relating to our main customer industries, such as electric steel production, to the competitive environment, to interest rate and exchange rate fluctuations, to technological developments, and to other risks and unanticipated circumstances. Other risks that in our opinion may arise include price developments, unexpected developments connected with acquisitions and subsidiaries, and unfore-seen risks associated with ongoing cost savings programs. SGL Group does not intend or assume any responsibility to revise or otherwise update these forward-looking statements.

LINK:	http://www.sglgroup.com/cms/international/press-lounge/news/2012/12/12...
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