IFP Energies Nouvelles (IFPEN) and Avantium Intensify Collaboration in Advanced High Throughput Research

    AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS, January 27, 2012 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Over the last years IFPEN acquired from Avantium several Flowrence units for different applications. IFPEN and Avantium have reached the next stage in the business partnership as another unit for hydrocracking and hydrotreating applications has been acquired.

Tom van Aken, CEO at Avantium, comments: "The relationship with IFPEN has been very valuable for Avantium. The close interaction between both teams combined with the depth of knowledge on applications and technology has delivered excellent insights and results. And the sale of another Flowrence unit to IFPEN is the best validation that our technology makes our customers more successful."

Denis Guillaume, Director of Catalysis and Separation Division at IFPEN: "IFPEN has carefully evaluated the market for advanced technologies in the field of catalytic research and has decided for Avantium's Flowrence technology. It is Avantium's advanced technology combined with their application knowledge that has made us decide to collaborate with Avantium on a strategic basis. The Flowrence units have allowed us to increase our testing capacity by a factor of 4 whilst reducing our operational costs.
All units delivered by Avantium have been installed and started up in a very short period of time. Furthermore, they continue to perform according to expectations and run on near continuous basis. The data obtained with the Flowrence unit provide us with very relevant information as these correlate very well with those obtained in our pilot plants."

About Flowrence Technology
Avantium's latest Flowrence technology platform enables customers to extremely accurately evaluate fast numbers of crushed catalyst and extrudates at 1ml scale perfectly matching micro reactor and pilot plant data. The Flowrence parallel fixed bed technology has proven to be leading for refinery, Fisher Tropsch, syngas, green chemistry and many other applications. Broad knowledge of these applications at Avantium together with the smart design guarantee high utilization of the equipment in R&D labs all over the world

About IFP Energies nouvelles
IFP Energies nouvelles is a public-sector research, innovation and training center active in the fields of energy, transport and the environment. Its mission is to provide public players and industry with efficient, economical, clean and sustainable technologies to take up the three major challenges facing society in the 21st century: climate change and environmental impacts, energy diversification and water resource management. It boasts world-class expertise.

IFP Energies nouvelles sets out 5 complementary, inextricably-linked strategic priorities that are central to its public-interest mission:
- renewable energies: producing fuels, chemical intermediates and energy from renewable sources,
- eco-friendly production: producing energy while mitigating the environmental footprint,
- innovative transport: developing fuel-efficient, environmentally-friendly transport,
- eco-efficient processes: producing environmentally-friendly fuels and chemical intermediates from fossil resources,
- sustainable resources: providing environmentally-friendly technologies and pushing back the current boundaries of oil and gas reserves.

For more information about IFPEN, visit the corporate website: www.ifpen.fr

About Avantium
Avantium is an independent leading technology company specialized in the area of advanced catalysis R&D and process development. Avantium has demonstrated the value and commercial potential of its unique technology and knowledge by collaborating with leading companies in the energy and chemical industries. In over 10 years Avantium has built up a global customer base for its successful R&D services and systems offering, including market leaders such as BP, Shell and Sasol. Avantium offices and headquarters are based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

For more information about Avantium, please contact Janine Kostermann Dohmen at +31 20 5868132, [email protected], or visit the corporate website: www.avantium.com

# # #