Statement re New Technology

RNS Number:9630G
Engelhard Corporation
3 February 2003

                                                       Contact
                                                       Ted Lowen
                                                       (Media)
                                                       732-205-6360

                                                       Peter Martin 
                                                       (Investor Relations) 
                                                       732-205-6106 
                                                       Ref.#Cl348



NEW ENGELHARD TECHNOLOGY ENABLES
REFINERS TO BOOST GASOLINE YIELDS


ISELIN, NJ, February 3, 2003 - Engelhard Corporation (NYSE:EC) today announced
the commercial launch of proprietary new technology that enables petroleum
refiners to significantly boost the amount of gasoline they can produce from
"bottom-of-the-barrel" crude oil.

Flex-Tec(TM) catalyst is the latest petroleum refining product based on
Engelhard's high-performance DMS(TM) technology platform. DMS has its roots in
the same materials science technology Engelhard first developed for paper
coating applications.

Flex-Tec can significantly boost the amount of gasoline produced from resid
feedstocks, even highly contaminated ones. It incorporates Engelhard's unique
MaxiMet(TM) technology to passivate metals, such as nickel and vanadium, even
when processing highly contaminated resid feeds.

In one U.S. refinery trial, Flex-Tec produced 3,000 more barrels of gasoline per
day than the previous catalyst and reduced the yield of undesirable heavy fuel
oil by nearly 2,000 barrels per day.

"The refiner was so impressed with the performance of Flex-Tec they immediately
put the catalyst into a second resid FCC (fluid cracking catalyst) unit in their
system," said Joe McLean, Engelhard's product manager for refining process
technologies.

In addition to the U.S. refinery, Flex-Tec already has been qualified for use by
a major Asian refiner.

Resid feedstocks are widely used in the United States, Europe and Asia. This
"bottom-of-the-barrel" crude oil often is contaminated with metals that make it
hard to refine. The challenge is to cost-effectively produce the most gasoline
and other desirable fuels with the least amount of unwanted products. Flex-Tec
represents a significant advance in this quest.

"Flex-Tec delivers benefits that can't be attained using traditional FCC
catalysts," said McLean. "It represents the latest success arising from our new
DMS technology platform."

Engelhard catalysts based on the DMS technology currently are operating in more
than 50 commercial FCC units worldwide. The first product to emerge from the DMS
platform was NaphthaMax(R) catalyst. First introduced in 2000, NaphthaMax
represented the first revolutionary advance in FCC technology in more than a
decade. It enables refiners to increase gasoline yields by 2% - the equivalent
of over 40,000 gallons of additional gasoline per day from a large FCC unit.

The second product from the DMS platform - NaphthaMax(R)-LSG catalyst - enables
refiners to reduce the amount of polluting sulfur in gasoline by as much as half
while maintaining conventional gasoline yields.

DMS technology enables Engelhard to develop catalysts that deliver a higher
level of performance in terms of enhanced stability, activity and yield. The
technology combines optimized porosity for heavy-feed-molecule diffusion with
selective zeolite-based cracking to achieve deep bottoms conversion with low
coke formation.

Engelhard Corporation is a surface and materials science company that develops
technologies to improve customers' products and processes. A Fortune 500
company, Engelhard is a world-leading provider of technologies for
environmental, process, appearance and performance applications. For more
information, visit Engelhard on the Internet at www.engelhard.com.



                      This information is provided by RNS
            The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

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