Albemarle® and Louisiana State University Develop New Techniques in Flame Retardant and Synergist Analysis

Visualization of key polymer additives in 3-D without damage to polymer or test sample allows for future advances in fire safety solutions

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Albemarle Corporation

Nov 29, 2011, 04:05 ET

BATON ROUGE, La., Nov. 29, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- A collaboration between researchers from Albemarle Corporation (NYSE: ALB), Louisiana State University (LSU), and the Center for Advanced Microstructures and Devices (CAMD) has led to innovative new methods that will increase 3-D visualization of flame retardant and synergist components using element specific X-ray tomography. This research shows that it is possible to visualize key polymer additives in 3-D without damage to the polymer or test sample.

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Brominated flame retardants and synergists are important polymer additives for fire safety. The ever increasing demand for fire safety, lower cost products and greener chemistry in consumer products drives extensive research aimed at creating more efficient and green flame retardants. Dispersion of the additives in the polymer matrices is critical to their efficiency and use. The spectroscopic tools and mathematical methods developed in this collaboration allow researchers to study both the dispersion of brominated materials and synergists to develop more efficient and greener blends.

"Our collaboration with LSU has been very successful and has led to new insights benefiting polymer additives, especially brominated flame retardants and synergists," says Joop de Rooij, Albemarle's R&D director. "New tools developed in this collaboration allow us to more accurately study dispersion and address performance issues in real commercial flame retardant application. This effort enables Albemarle to maintain our technology leadership in this highly competitive field by adapting and developing new and advanced products faster than the competition."

According to Professor Les Butler of LSU and CAMD, "Working with Albemarle has clearly been a good situation. We have learned a lot about practical polymer and imaging technology and with this knowledge we have been able to develop the novel and powerful visualization tools."

The work is funded through a Grant Opportunity for Academic Liaison with Industry (GOALI) from the National Science Foundation. Principal investigators with Professor Butler are Professor Randall Hall of LSU, and Dr. Larry Simeral, Distinguished Advisor at Albemarle.

About Albemarle
Albemarle Corporation, headquartered in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, is a leading global developer, manufacturer, and marketer of highly-engineered specialty chemicals for consumer electronics, petroleum refining, utilities, packaging, construction, automotive/transportation, pharmaceuticals, crop protection, food-safety and custom chemistry services. The Company is committed to global sustainability and is advancing its eco-practices and solutions in its three business segments, Polymer Solutions, Catalysts and Fine Chemistry. Corporate Responsibility Magazine selected Albemarle to its prestigious "100 Best Corporate Citizens" list for 2010 and 2011. Albemarle employs approximately 4,000 people and serves customers in approximately 100 countries. Albemarle regularly posts information to www.albemarle.com, including notification of events, news, financial performance, investor presentations and webcasts, Regulation G reconciliations, SEC filings, and other information regarding the Company, its businesses and the markets we serve.

"Safe Harbor" Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: Statements in this press release regarding Albemarle Corporation's business that are not historical facts are "forward-looking statements" that involve risks and uncertainties. For a discussion of such risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements, see "Risk Factors" in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K.

SOURCE Albemarle Corporation