Clariant doubles capacity at catalyst R&D centre

High-throughput R&D combines state-of-the art hardware, robotics, automated procedures, and specialised software – including machine learning and other artificial intelligence (AI) tools – to enable up to 100 times faster experimentation compared to traditional practices. Clariant leverages this innovative methodology, along with its well-established expertise and knowledge in catalyst development and production, to accelerate time-to-market by reducing the catalyst discovery and development phase by 3 – 4 years.

Stefan Heuser, Senior Vice President & General Manager at Clariant Catalysts, commented, “The expansion of our Palo Alto high-throughput catalyst R&D centre represents an essential milestone of our business strategy. Thanks to its location, the centre capitalises on the high-tech nature of Silicon Valley. We are very excited about the advances in catalyst technology we plan to achieve here for our customers.”

Since its establishment in 2009, Clariant’s Palo Alto centre has focused exclusively on high-throughput catalyst R&D. Many of the scientists and engineers at the site have done pioneering work in this field, and tens of thousands of catalysts have been made and tested at the centre. This has resulted in several highly successful commercial products, such as the selective hydrogenation catalyst OleMax^® 260.

Anthony Volpe, Head of the Palo Alto R&D Center, described the advantages of the expansion, stating, “Increasing our capacity allows us to boost both productivity and innovation, which will result in faster development of catalysts for our customers. We are also accelerating our work to advance the state-of-the-art in high throughput technologies, especially in supporting catalyst scale-up and production.”

Read the article online at: https://www.hydrocarbonengineering.com/petrochemicals/25062020/clariant-doubles-capacity-at-catalyst-rd-centre/