STAMICARBON and IPCOS sign cooperation agreement for Advanced Process Control

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Rome/Sittard/Leuven, 23 february 2010 - Maire Tecnimont, through its subsidiary Stamicarbon, and IPCOS NV of Belgium announce the signing of a cooperation agreement aimed at providing urea producers with IPCOS’ high-end Advanced Process Control and Optimization solutions.

The cooperation agreement will facilitate the combination of Stamicarbon’s leading process knowledge and IPCOS’ innovative Advanced Process Control solutions. By bringing together the experience of Stamicarbon, market leader in Urea process licensing, and the experience of IPCOS, market leader in Advanced Process Control solutions for Fertilizer producers, a next generation Urea Optimization solution is made available to the market. This low-cost solution, with paybacks ranging from 3 months to a year, will allow urea producers to significantly improve their production rates and operating efficiency without the need to undertake major plant equipment investments.

The IPCOS’ APC solution provides Urea producers with improved reliability in operation, by ensuring continuous, consistent best practice operation. The variability in key process parameters is significantly reduced, and production rates and energy efficiency are increased from conventional, operator-driven operation. Downstream units such as granulation or prilling sections benefit tremendously from the improved consistency of the quality of the Urea melt.

“Stamicarbon is committed to give Full Life Cycle support to our customers around the world. As a part of this commitment, we have decided to join forces with IPCOS so as to deliver best in class Advanced Process Control solutions to our customers,” said Pejman Djavdan, CEO of Stamicarbon. 

“We are very pleased to have signed this agreement with Stamicarbon”, said Peter van Overschee, CEO of IPCOS. “This agreement exemplifies our continued goal to provide our customers with ‘best-in-class’ solutions. The combination of Stamicarbon’s process knowledge and IPCOS’ state-of-the-art process control solutions will ensure top performance and maximum benefits for all urea production facilities, and be yet another driver for expanding IPCOS’ footprint in the APC market.”

Maire Tecnimont S.p.A.

Maire Tecnimont S.p.A. is the parent company of an international industrial group which provides a comprehensive, integrated system of services and installations in its sectors: Chemicals and Petrochemicals, Oil & Gas, Power, Civil Engineering and Infrastructure. The Group has established itself thanks to advanced skills in Project Management and Main Contracting, by implementing complex turnkey projects all over the world, combining high quality and planning standards with a focus on multicultural and environmental issues. The Group, listed on the Milan Stock Exchange, with a presence in about 30 countries, currently controls about 40 operating companies and can rely on a workforce of more than 4,500 employees, more than half of whom are outside Italy. At 31 December 2008, the Group reported Revenues of €2,463 million and Net income of €117 million. More information: www.mairetecnimont.it

Stamicarbon

Stamicarbon, the licensing and IP Center of Maire Tecnimont, is the global market leader in licensing of urea technology and services with more than 50% market share in synthesis and 40% market share in urea granulation technology. Stamicarbon has over 60 years' experience in licensing its urea technology, delivering optimum environmental performance,safety, reliability and productivity at the lowest investment level. Around the world, over 240 urea plants are using its technology. Furthermore it has completed over 90 revamp projects in Stamicarbon and non-Stamicarbon plants. Its technologies are available through licensed contractors.

Since 1947, Stamicarbon has been the world’s leading authority and innovator in the field of urea in close cooperation with research institutes, suppliers and customers. The latest innovative achievements are the AVANCORE® urea process, Safurex^® stainless-steel material, Urea Granulation Technology, The Mega Plant Technology and Urea 2000plus™Technology.

Stamicarbon has offices in Sittard (The Netherlands), Beijing (China) and Moscow (Russia). More information: www.stamicarbon.com

IPCOS

IPCOS was founded in 1995 as a spin-off of the University of Leuven. In 2006 KBC Private Equity became the majority shareholder of IPCOS.The company develops advanced process control (APC) and optimization solutions,and supplies the services required to install and maintain them. The IPCOS engineers all have many years’ experience in APC solutions for the different market segments in which the company is active. Thanks to strong investment in R&D and close co-operation with universities across the world, IPCOS isable to bring to market state-of-the-art products. IPCOS has offices inBelgium, The Netherlands, the UK, India and Saudi Arabia. More information: www.ipcos.com 

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