Clariant’s new HTE lab in the US energy capital to support oil and gas

Clariant

SPECIALTY chemicals company Clariant has opened a new High-Throughput Experimentation (HTE) Laboratory in Houston, Texas – the US’ energy capital. According to Clariant, the new facility is the first of its kind supporting the oil and gas industry.

HTE is an innovative research methodology and approach, which uses automated instrumentation, specialised software tools, and alternative techniques to provide optimised formulations in a rapid timeframe. It has been used by other industries for many years but Clariant is the first company to employ the technology as a standard tool for oil and gas.

The new facility is a fast-response unit for application, discovery, and development of optimised formulations within a rapid time frame. It will allow Clariant to use techniques that are proven to increase efficiency and productivity.

It is expected to meet both current and outstanding oil and gas industry needs.

The lab is an addition at to an existing one at Clariant’s Oil Services headquarters and is expected to enhance the Oil Service business with “innovation leadership for its global customers”.

The new HTE facility is part of a wider Clariant initiative to expand HTE capabilities to all its business units, including for direct support of Oil Services in North America, Latin America, the Asia Pacific region, and the North Sea.

Jonathan Wylde, Global Head of Application Development and Innovation at Clariant Oil Services, said: “…our researchers are now able to identify new formulations and synergistic blends for specific customer crudes, ultimately reducing the time to market for new products.”

Lucius Kemp, Clariant’s Global Head of High Throughput Experimentation Research Group, said: “An R&D environment requires a special solution to keep pace with its dynamic nature.

“One must have a highly flexible concept with very short integration times to reach automated efficiency...we have designed our HTE lab with ‘standardised flexibility’ to achieve this.”

Last year, Clariant opened state-of-the-art facilities in Midland, Texas and Clinton, Oklahoma to support the oil and gas industry.