HYR.L Regulatory News (HYR)

9 Feb 2006 07:01

HydroDec Group plc09 February 2006 9 February 2006 HYDRODEC GROUP PLC NEW VP TO HEAD NORTH AMERICA OPERATIONS Hydrodec is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr John G Cowan as ExecutiveVice President North American Operations. Prior to joining Hydrodec, Mr Cowanworked for more than 25 years in the environmental technology and treatmentbusiness in the US and Australia. For the last four years Mr Cowan has served as the international businessdevelopment director for the water and wastewater subsidiary of Parsons, a majorglobal engineering construction company, being responsible for the developmentand financing of independent infrastructure projects. From 1998 to 2003 he wasresponsible for the development of a UNDP funded program focused on creatingPublic-Private Partnerships to address urban environmental problems in thePacific Island states and Central and Southeast Asia. Mr Cowan's appointment is an important step in the establishment of the Hydrodecbusiness in the North American market. He will focus on continuing negotiationswith United States transformer services and transformer oil management companiesfor the establishment of a Hydrodec oil refining technology in North America aswell as overseeing the Dow trial of the Hydrodec Technology for the destructionof Dioxins. Hydrodec is targeting commencement of oil refining operations in theUnited States in 2007. Chairman John Gunn commented, "We are delighted to have a VP of the calibre ofJohn to help establish our North American operations. This is a key market forthe Hydrodec technology, and I look forward to updating on negotiations with thekey transformer services partner we have identified. This is an exciting stagein the growth of the company and provides the opportunity for Hydrodec to cementits place as an international leader in the sustainable production of specialityoils." For further information please contact:- John Gunn - 020 7236 6236 Nick Fox - 020 7153 1540 Further Information: About Hydrodec:Hydrodec was established to commercialise the Hydrodec technology which is an oil re-refining process designed to remove harmful contaminants such as PCBs. The Hydrodec technology is based on intellectual property comprising a protected patent in Australia and certain other jurisdictions developed by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation ("CSIRO") of Australia. Hydrodec has entered into an exclusive global license with CSIRO for the marketing and distribution of the HydroDec technology. Last year, it committed the sum of £1 million (one million pounds) to the construction of a new, larger Hydrodec plant capable of processing up to 20,000 litres per day of speciality oils and/or chlorinated organic wastes. The Company anticipates that the plant will be in operation by Spring 2006. When fully operational, the new plant will produce a near seven-fold increase in HydroDec's processing capacity. Since June 2004 a 3,000 litre per day HydroDec plant has been operating in Australia principally re-refining PCB contaminated transformer oils for Australian power utilities. The technology has also been used to treat a variety of other chlorinated organic wastes, commonly referred to as "Persistent Organics Pollutant" ("POPs"). This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange