diff --git a/converter-sbml/src/main/java/lcsb/mapviewer/converter/model/sbml/SbmlExporter.java b/converter-sbml/src/main/java/lcsb/mapviewer/converter/model/sbml/SbmlExporter.java
index 3d860fecee9bbe994a4011e7674ffc9c333979fd..e8129d4803466be6877594e143ded54c0a67ed7b 100644
--- a/converter-sbml/src/main/java/lcsb/mapviewer/converter/model/sbml/SbmlExporter.java
+++ b/converter-sbml/src/main/java/lcsb/mapviewer/converter/model/sbml/SbmlExporter.java
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 package lcsb.mapviewer.converter.model.sbml;
 
+import java.io.UnsupportedEncodingException;
+
 import javax.xml.stream.XMLStreamException;
 
 import org.apache.commons.io.output.ByteArrayOutputStream;
@@ -14,6 +16,7 @@ import org.sbml.jsbml.ext.layout.LayoutModelPlugin;
 import org.sbml.jsbml.ext.render.GlobalRenderInformation;
 import org.sbml.jsbml.ext.render.RenderLayoutPlugin;
 
+import lcsb.mapviewer.common.exception.InvalidStateException;
 import lcsb.mapviewer.converter.model.sbml.reaction.SbmlReactionExporter;
 import lcsb.mapviewer.converter.model.sbml.species.SbmlSpeciesExporter;
 import lcsb.mapviewer.converter.model.sbml.units.SbmlUnitExporter;
@@ -25,30 +28,34 @@ public class SbmlExporter {
 
   public String toXml(lcsb.mapviewer.model.map.model.Model model)
       throws SBMLException, XMLStreamException, InconsistentModelException {
-    SBMLDocument doc = new SBMLDocument(3, 1);
-    Model result = doc.createModel(model.getIdModel());
-    result.setName(model.getName());
-    Layout layout = createSbmlLayout(model, result);
+    try {
+      SBMLDocument doc = new SBMLDocument(3, 1);
+      Model result = doc.createModel(model.getIdModel());
+      result.setName(model.getName());
+      Layout layout = createSbmlLayout(model, result);
 
-    SbmlCompartmentExporter compartmentExporter = new SbmlCompartmentExporter(layout, model);
-    SbmlBioEntityExporter<Species, org.sbml.jsbml.Species> speciesExporter = new SbmlSpeciesExporter(layout, model,
-        compartmentExporter);
-    SbmlReactionExporter reactionExporter = new SbmlReactionExporter(layout, model, speciesExporter,
-        compartmentExporter);
-    SbmlUnitExporter unitExporter = new SbmlUnitExporter(model);
-    SbmlParameterExporter parameterExporter = new SbmlParameterExporter(model);
-    SbmlFunctionExporter functionExporter = new SbmlFunctionExporter(model);
+      SbmlCompartmentExporter compartmentExporter = new SbmlCompartmentExporter(layout, model);
+      SbmlBioEntityExporter<Species, org.sbml.jsbml.Species> speciesExporter = new SbmlSpeciesExporter(layout, model,
+          compartmentExporter);
+      SbmlReactionExporter reactionExporter = new SbmlReactionExporter(layout, model, speciesExporter,
+          compartmentExporter);
+      SbmlUnitExporter unitExporter = new SbmlUnitExporter(model);
+      SbmlParameterExporter parameterExporter = new SbmlParameterExporter(model);
+      SbmlFunctionExporter functionExporter = new SbmlFunctionExporter(model);
 
-    compartmentExporter.exportElements(result);
-    speciesExporter.exportElements(result);
-    reactionExporter.exportElements(result);
-    unitExporter.exportUnits(result);
-    parameterExporter.exportParameter(result);
-    functionExporter.exportFunction(result);
+      compartmentExporter.exportElements(result);
+      speciesExporter.exportElements(result);
+      reactionExporter.exportElements(result);
+      unitExporter.exportUnits(result);
+      parameterExporter.exportParameter(result);
+      functionExporter.exportFunction(result);
 
-    ByteArrayOutputStream stream = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
-    SBMLWriter.write(doc, stream, "minerva", "1.0");
-    return stream.toString();
+      ByteArrayOutputStream stream = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
+      SBMLWriter.write(doc, stream, "minerva", "1.0");
+      return stream.toString("UTF-8");
+    } catch (UnsupportedEncodingException e) {
+      throw new InvalidStateException(e);
+    }
   }
 
   public Layout createSbmlLayout(lcsb.mapviewer.model.map.model.Model model, Model result) {
@@ -68,7 +75,7 @@ public class SbmlExporter {
     layout.setDimensions(dimensions);
     layoutPlugin.add(layout);
     result.addExtension("layout", layoutPlugin);
-    
+
     createSbmlRenderPlugin(layout, result);
     return layout;
   }