Albemarle Builds Kilo Laboratory in Europe

State of the art facility provides local capabilities for European customers

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Jun 07, 2010, 09:15 ET

BATON ROUGE, La., June 7 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Albemarle Corporation (NYSE: ALB), a global supplier of fine chemistry services (FCS) for pharmaceutical, agricultural and specialty chemical products, announced today it is building a state of the art kilo lab in Louvain la Neuve, Belgium. The facility will give Albemarle's European customer base convenient access to local product development capabilities to better serve their needs. The facility is expected to be operational by the third quarter of 2010.

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The new laboratory will contain the highest quality processes and safety features and have capabilities up to and including 50-liter glass lined vessels. The centrally located facility will yield enhanced customer collaboration through all stages of research and development for Albemarle's European customer base.

"A critical focus for Albemarle's FCS team is to support the efficient development of complex multi-step synthesis' for our customers," said Steve LeVan, Division Vice President – Fine Chemistry Services. "Our new lab gives our European customers a convenient way to increase collaboration and consultation with Albemarle scientists, ultimately accelerating the process from idea stage to commercialization."

Albemarle's FCS division is a global provider of products, custom manufacturing and process scale-up services to a wide variety of markets including pharmaceuticals, crop protection and specialty chemicals. The new kilo lab will strategically support FCS's multiple existing cGMP and custom manufacturing facilities.

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 Chemicals. Corporate Responsibility Magazine recently selected Albemarle to its prestigious "100 Best Corporate Citizens" list for 2010. Albemarle employs approximately 4,000 people and serves customers in approximately 100 countries. To learn more, visit www.albemarle.com.

"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