BASF and Heidelberg University inaugurate catalysis research lab

Guenther Oettinger, premier of the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg, officially opened the new Euro 1.5 million catalysis research lab (CaRLa), watched by representatives from BASF and Heidelberg University, who collaborated on the project.

An international research team consisting of six university and six BASF scientists will be working to develop new homogeneous catalysts in the Heidelberg Technology Park.

'This collaboration is a brand new and path-breaking form of technology transfer in Germany., said Oettinger: 'I hope that cooperation between researchers from universities and industry on joint campus-based projects will become increasingly common.'

The two organisations say that the laboratory's proximity to Heidelberg University and BASF offers ideal conditions for catalysis research and a swift transfer of technology to industry.

CaRLa covers the entire spectrum of research from basic research to industry-specific applications and will be headed by BASF researcher Dr Christoph Jaekel, who has been working since 2002 on the development and use of homogeneous catalysts in BASF's chemicals research & engineering field.

More than 80 percent of all chemical products come into contact with catalysts at least once during their synthesis process, BASF says. Unlike heterogeneous catalysis, which uses catalysts in their solid form to mediate reactions, homogeneous catalysis makes use of catalysts that have been dissolved in the reaction mixture.