MOSCOW (MRC) -- BASF, the world's petrochemical major, and Heidelberg University have signed a new agreement for their joint catalysis laboratory "Catalysis Research Laboratory" (CaRLa), as per BASF's press release.
The research cooperation at Heidelberg site ongoing since 2006 has been extended to October 2017.
"Catalysts play a central role in many technical processes in chemistry. In times of increasingly scare resources they are of major importance for energy and raw material efficient processes," says Dr. Peter Schumacher, head of the research department Process Research and Chemical Engineering at BASF. "CaRLa combines the broad scientific expertise of Heidelberg University with the chemical-technical know-how of BASF, thereby offering an outstanding infrastructure to jointly lay the foundation for new industrial catalytic processes."
CaRLa will continue to be managed by two scientific heads. Following the age-related retirement of Prof. Dr. Peter Hofmann, one of the initiators of CaRLa, Prof. Dr. Oliver Trapp of the Organic Chemical Institute will assume the scientific management for Heidelberg University. For BASF, Dr. Thomas Schaub has been the scientific head and laboratory manager at the site since mid 2014. There have also been organizational changes and new appointments in the controlling team. With the new agreement, the scientific heads Trapp and Schaub jointly emphasize that the successful project work in the joint catalysis laboratory can be continued and further expanded.
As MRC wrote before, BASF is further strengthening its production footprint in Asia Pacific with the start-up of its first production plant for polymer dispersions in Pasir Gudang, Malaysia, in January 2015. This production plant is built at the existing BASF production site, located in the Pasir Gudang Industrial Park of the Johor Free Trade Zone. The plant is BASF’s third polymer dispersions plant in ASEAN, complementing the existing dispersions plants in Jakarta and Merak, Indonesia.
BASF is the world’s leading chemical company. Its portfolio ranges from chemicals, plastics, performance products and crop protection products to oil and gas. BASF had sales of over EUR74 billion in 2014 and around 113,000 employees as of the end of the year.
MRC