CyPlus opens new cyanide filling station in Wesseling

After two years of planning and construction, CyPlus GmbH, a wholly owned subsidiary of Evonik Degussa GmbH, officially inaugurated its cyanide filling station for CyPlus® Solid-to-Liquid Containers at the Wesseling production site on November 30, 2010. The project represents a seven-digit euro investment.

"CyPlus plays a central role in the integrated production system at Evonik’s Wesseling site. It is a special honor to inaugurate this new facility today, which will further improve the high standards of cyanide logistics," said Dr. Gerd Wolter, Site Manager, in his remarks during the inaugurationceremony.

CyPlus® Solid-to-Liquid Containers, or "SLS containers" for short, are an innovative packaging and logistics technology for cyanides. The new station fills specially equipped 20-foot ISO containers with 20,000 kg of solid sodium cyanide (NaCN) for transport to customers. The system ensures safe transport loads by road or rail.

Once a container arrives at the customer site, it is docked to a dissolving station, also designed by CyPlus, in which the fully automatic dissolving process is started. The system circulates water through special installation features of the container and dissolves the cyanide. After this process, the NaCN solution is kept in the desired concentration in the customer storage tank. The SLS container is cleaned and then returned to the CyPlus site in Wesseling for another filling. "The system allows for high standards with regard to safety and environmental protection," explains Norbert Steier, Manager Operations & Technology Solutions. "Operators no longer have any direct contact with the hazardous substance and the reusable system eliminates the need to dispose contaminated packaging materials."

The CyPlus Solid-to-Liquid system was established a few years ago for customers of the chemical-pharmaceutical industry and the solar industry. These customers typically use a CyPlus® Solid-to-Liquid Container version with a filling capacity of 1,000 kg solid salt. The new filling station now enables to fill SLS containers with volumes up to 20,000 kg of solid salt to serve large-volume applications in precious metal mining and the chemical industry. The filling station is fully integrated into the production process and was developed on the basis of many years of cyanide production experience at the Wesseling site. CyPlus has been producing cyanides at the Wesseling site since 1957.

The construction of the facility began in mid-2009 and the first filling tests in the completed structure took place a year later. "The CyPlus Solid-to-Liquid System is the most innovative container technology for cyanide shipments in the world. It is sure to strengthen the position of CyPlus as a provider of intelligent solutions for the safe, responsible handling of cyanides," added Frank Harenburg, Managing Director of CyPlus GmbH. CyPlus employees are looking forward to beginning the regular shipments with SLS containers.