BATON ROUGE, Louisiana, July 21 --

- New Innovative Catalyst Allows Diesel Producers to Boost Production with No
Capital Investment

Albemarle Corporation, (NYSE: ALB), a global leader in creating innovative
catalyst products and technologies, announced today that it will offer the
NEBULA(R) catalyst in hydrocracking and hydrotreating applications as part of
the Hydroprocessing Alliance, the company’s strategic alliance with UOP, a
Honeywell company.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20050801/ALBEMARLELOGO )

NEBULA catalyst is an innovative material jointly discovered by ExxonMobil
Research and Engineering Company and co-developed with Albemarle that offers
greater catalyst activity and can enhance diesel yield and quality in
hydrocracking and hydrotreating applications. Researchers of the two companies
were recognized by the American Chemical Society as Heroes of Chemistry for
their work in the development of the NEBULA catalyst which was hailed as a
unique and more environmentally sustainable catalyst for the production of
cleaner diesel fuels. The Hydroprocessing Alliance will now offer the NEBULA
catalyst for reloads and revamps of hydrocracking and hydrotreating units for
fuels applications.

The NEBULA catalyst is a base-metal catalyst with higher activity than
conventional hydrotreating catalysts. NEBULA’s high hydrodenitrogenation
(HDN) and hydrodearomatization (HDA) activities can debottleneck hydrocrackers
that have limited hydrotreating activity. Additionally, NEBULA enables the
production of ULSD without additional capital investment and can enhance
hydrotreating unit revamps to reach higher throughputs or achieve higher product
quality standards. It has been used in more than 40 applications since its
introduction in 2001.

NEBULA’s proven operational flexibility and superior performance are
strong additions to the Alliance portfolio of cost effective solutions required
in today’s market, said Marc Nicolas, Director of Albemarle’s
Alliance activities. In just three years Alliance efforts have resulted in the
licensing of 61 hydrotreating units. We look forward to our continued work with
UOP to provide superior products, technologies and consultative services that
bring significant value and support the short and long-term business objectives
of our clients.

The NEBULA catalyst can be used as a drop-in for hydrocracker reloads to allow
them to produce more ULSD without costly modifications to the unit, said UOP
Alliance Director Jim Kennedy. This is a distinct advantage as the demand for
diesel continues to grow and environmental specifications get stricter. We are
very pleased that the Hydroprocessing Alliance can now make this important
product available to our customers.

UOP and Albemarle formed the Hydroprocessing Alliance in 2006 to support the
production of clean transportation fuels worldwide. The alliance combines the
strengths of UOP, a leading developer of hydrotreating and hydrocracking process
technology and hydrocracking catalyst, and Albemarle, a leading developer and
supplier of innovative refinery hydrotreating catalysts and technologies, to
provide the refining industry with a broad portfolio of process and catalyst
offerings for middle distillate hydrotreating, vacuum gas oil hydrotreating,
mild hydrocracking, hydrocracking, and fixed-bed residue hydrotreating.

About Albemarle Corporation

Albemarle Corporation, headquartered in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, is a leading
global developer, manufacturer and marketer of highly engineered specialty
chemicals for consumer electronics; petroleum and petrochemical processing;
transportation and industrial products; pharmaceuticals; agricultural products;
and construction and packaging materials. The Company operates in three business
segments -- Polymer Solutions, Catalysts and Fine Chemicals -- and serves
customers in approximately 100 countries. Learn more about Albemarle at:
www.albemarle.com.

Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of
1995: Statements in this press release regarding Albemarle Corporation’s
business which are not historical facts are forward-looking statements that
involve risks and uncertainties. For a discussion of such risks and
uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ from those contained
in the forward-looking statements, see Risk Factors in the Company’s
Annual Report on Form 10-K.

SOURCE: Albemarle Corporation

Media: Stephanie Dixon, +1-225-388-7904, Stephanie_Dixon@albemarle.com, or
Investor Relations: Sandra Rodriguez, +1-225-388-7654,
Sandra_Rodriguez@albemarle.com, both of Albemarle Corporation; Logo:
http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20050801/ALBEMARLELOGO