Worldwide First Terra Preta Plant Inaugmented

- At Hengstbacherhof (Rhineland-Palatinate) the extremely fertile humus soil Terra Preta is industrially produced for the very first time

Woerrstadt/Hengstbacherhof - The Palaterra GmbH & CO. KG inaugmented today the worldwide first plant for the production of the new Terra Preta. The plant is located on the Hengstbacherhof in the German province Rhineland- Palatinate. The demonstration plant will be producing 1,250 cubic metres of the new Terra Preta. It is a very fertile humus soil, which is for the first time industrially produced according to the thousands-of-years old recipe of the Amazon Indians. The Palaterra GmbH & Co. KG, which is distributing the humus soil under the name of Palaterra® (\"Soil of Palatinate\") is a joint venture between the project developer juwi and Joachim Böttcher, CEO of the areal GmbH: The producers see a high potential in Palaterra®. Due to its fertility and its ability to absorb CO2, it can contribute considerably to the protection of the climate and the nutrition of the world.

Around noon Jürgen Bohn and Joachim Böttcher, the two CEOs of the Palaterra GmbH & Co. KG, as well as the juwi chairmen Matthias Willenbacher and Fred Jung inaugmented the plant. \"We are more than happy to stand here today after almost one year of hard work\", sais Jürgen Bohn. And Joachim Böttcher adds: \"The new Terra Preta has an enormous potential. Due to its extraordinary high fertility it is able to improve the soil in areas of the world that are naturally barren. Thus, it can supply a high number of people with food\".

The production process of the new Terra Preta based on the \"recipe\" of the Amazon Indians started already at the end of July. After a production period of six weeks, during which the basic commodities like the digestate from biogas plants were worked up in a unique bioengineering treatment, the guests this Friday had the honour to hold the first industrially produced new Terra Preta in their hands. For the moment the soil will be predominantly distributed to hobby and expert gardeners. In the medium term it will also be distributed to agriculture. \"We are producing Palaterra with material, which we are obtaining from the region around the plant. Thus leads to a cycle of material that benefits the whole region. Due to this sustainable concept Palaterra fits perfectly into our portfolio\", says Matthias Willenbacher, chairman of the juwi Group, which is one of the joint venture partner. The plant located at the Hengstbacherhof can be considered as a first step, a much bigger plant is already planned at the Morbach Energy Landscape. The latter will presumably be augmented by the end of 2011.

The original Terra Preta of the Amazon Indians used to be very fertile and enabled as a conditioner an extensive farming even on the low-nutritient soil of the rain forest. Due to its extreme fertility it used to be called the \"gold of the soil\". For years scientists were researching intensively for the recipe of the Terra Preta. The plant- and soil expert Joachim Böttcher managed with a team of researchers to crack the code of its composition. In November 2009 he founded in cooperation with the juwi Group the Palaterra GmbH & Co. KG to produce and distribute greater quantities of Palaterra.


About Terra Preta

Palaterra® (http://www.palaterra.eu) improves the quality of utilizable grounds comprehensively - without harming nature and environment. It increases the surface productivity and at the same time preserves resources. Palaterra also promotes ecological food production, as less mineral fertilizer is used. Using the \"black earth\" grounds remain fruitful over many years. Nutrients stay longer in the ground and are not washed out. Beyond that, the new Terra Preta is able to store more waters. Potential application areas is not only agriculture, but also gardening and forestry; also, hobby gardeners can plant their tomatoes in Palaterra®. With the ground’s improvement comes a higher yield and thus the efficiency is clearly increased. \"The gold of the earth\" has beyond that important effects on the climate – less organic biomass is used and thus less carbon dioxides is produced. At the same time a large quantity of CO2 is bound as continuous humus. Scientists calculated that in a one-hectare field prepared with Palaterra®, up to 250 tons CO2 could be bound.


About the juwi-group

The juwi group was created in 1996 by Matthias Willenbacher and Fred Jung. Together they developed juwi from a two-man office to a company acting worldwide with approx. 900 employees and a sales volume of approx. 900 Mio euros (estimation 2010). juwi realizes solar, wind and bio energy plants as well as waterpower and geothermic projects. The group has offices in Germany, France, Italy, Spain, the Czech Republic, Greece, Poland, the USA and Costa Rica. Together with a highly motivated team, Willenbacher and Jung pursue the goal of a complete renewable energy supply: 100 per cent commitment for 100 per cent renewable energies. The campaign\" 100 % renewable \"is the slogan for this objective. For its commitment juwi has been awarded among others with the German Climate Protection Price in 2008 and the Clean Tech Media Award in 2009.


About the areal GmbH

The areal GmbH was created in 1990 by Joachim Böttcher. The company is active in the development, planning and realization of sustainable processes in the field of sewage management and has national and international experiences in the conception and construction of sewage and processing plants. areal is a worldwide leading developer of Palaterra®.


Woerrstadt/Hengstbacherhof, September 10, 2010


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