PITTSBURGH, October 16, 1999 - As a major supplier to the worldwide chloroalkali industry, Bayer Corporation's Industrial Chemical Division today announced the availability of its Lewatit® TP 260 and TP 208 ion exchange resins to the North American market. First introduced in Europe and the Far East, Lewatit TP 260 and TP 208 are now offered for North American producers of high-quality chlorine and caustic chemicals.

"In addition to environmental concerns within the industry, the need for high-purity chlorine for use in materials such as polycarbonates has led producers of chlorine and caustic away from older technologies - such as mercury diaphragm cells - to membrane cell production technologies," said Tony DeCola, Product Manager for Ion Exchange Resins. "Lewatit helps provide feed stock containing lower levels of hardness ions to production cells. This is the market need that Bayer fulfills with its Lewatit ion exchange technology."

In addition to the common ion associated with hardness, Lewatit ion exchange resins also improve removal of ions such as Strontium and Barium in trace quantities, which may also have an adverse effect on newer membranes.

To date, over 550 cubic meters of Lewatit TP 208 ion exchange resins have been installed worldwide, including installation at Bayer's own state-of-the-art production facility in Baytown, Texas.

For more information Bayer's ion exchange technology, contact: Bayer Corporation, Industrial Chemicals Communications, 100 Bayer Road, Pittsburgh, PA 15205; (800) 662-2927 ext. 5688; FAX (412) 777-3899. Or, visit Bayer's ion exchange Web sites at www.H20Treat.com, www.ion-exchange.com, www.phosphonate.com, and www.hydrazinehydrate.com. For information on Bayer Corporation, visit www.bayerus.com.

Bayer Corporation is a research-based company with major businesses in health care and life sciences and chemicals. The company had 1998 sales of $8.1 billion and employs more than 23,000 people. Bayer Corporation is investing $15 billion in capital expenditures and research and development from 1995 through the year 2004. 1999 capital investment and R&D expenditures are projected to total $1.6 billion. Bayer Corporation, with headquarters in Pittsburgh, is a member of the worldwide Bayer Group, a $31 billion chemicals and health care group based in Leverkusen, Germany.

Contact: William Allan
Industrial Chemicals Division
Media Line: (412) 777-2500
Fax: (412) 777-3899
bill.allan.b@bayer.com
www.bayerus.com