SABIC has signed an MoU with hte GmbH in Heidelberg, Germany, to establish a satellite laboratory for high throughput experimentation with a view to increasing the Saudi firm’s R&D efficiency.

hte is a leading high throughput experimentation company that provides a valuable upside to heterogeneous catalysis and enables fast-track R&D.

The MoU was signed by Dr Ernesto Occhiello, EVP, technology and innovation, and Dr Wolfram Stichert, CEO at hte GmbH.

Under the MoU, hte will provide a technology platform to support Sabic in catalysis R&D.

“This will include advanced testing equipment which will be hosted exclusively at hte’s newly constructed laboratory building in Heidelberg. Sabic will benefit from a unique R&D environment with dedicated high throughput experimentation laboratories and specialised personnel. hte’s offering encompasses additionally state-of-the-art workshops, infrastructure, technology, service, and catalysis expertise,” a Sabic statement said.

“The key principle of high throughput experimentation (HTE) is parallelisation. Thus, performing of more than hundreds of experiments under varying industrially relevant conditions is highly economical. It decreases cost for development of new catalysts and chemical processes considerably and ultimately their time-to-market,” the statement added.