STATHELLE, Norway — Norner and HTExplore are joining forces to offer an integrated and streamlined workflow for industrial catalyst and polymer development services ranging from milli- to kilogram-scale to catalyst manufacturers, polymer producers and other industries.
HTExplore is an Italian based high-tech company located in Naples. Founded in 2012 by Professor Vincenzo Busico, it specializes in catalyst high throughput screening (HTS) for polyolefin synthesis. HTExplore operates an HTS laboratory allowing rapid screening and reliable optimization of large catalyst recipe arrays, including advanced characterization of the micro-scale polymer samples. The company has considerable experience working with industry and is taking advantage of a long-term academic tradition directly linked to the school of Giulio Natta.
Norner is a Norwegian-based technology company providing a full-service portfolio in the plastics value chain from polymer synthesis to processing and end-use innovations. Norner has over 40 years of industrial experience and is operating advanced polymerization pilot facilities where polymer samples at kilogram scale are produced in industrial relevant conditions to simulate all relevant commercial processes. These sample amounts allow application-relevant polymer development, testing and verification in Norners pilot processing equipment.
“Our capabilities and facilities are very complementary to HTExplore’s. We are now in the position to provide a complete service offering for polymerization development ranging mg to kg scale. We are very excited to develop the synergies between our companies further for the benefit of our industrial clients,” said Klaus Schöffel, VP R&D of Norner.
“Norner is well recognized in the polymer industry for their broad services and innovation in catalyst, polymer and application development. This partnership bridges the gap between our high throughput screening and Norner’s application development of the same polymers,” said Luca Rongo, General Manager at HTExplore.
Since the start, Norner has delivered development projects based on its polymerization and application development capabilities to many clients in the global polymer industry. The project portfolio covers a broad scope of catalysts and processes and has benefited from the industrial know how and an application-oriented test center.
“We strongly believe that the industrial R&D experience of Norner combined with the scientific expertise of HTExplore will create significant value to our clients. By unifying the two workflows, we will provide our clients with the best of two worlds,” said Kjetil Larsen, CEO of Norner.
