What helps us test more ideas faster?

Lucius, what is the HTE lab you’re building in Houston, Texas, right now?

The High Throughput Experimentation (HTE) lab in Houston is a satellite facility to the HTE lab we have established in Frankfurt, Germany. The instrumentation, infrastructure, and operational model are a direct clone of the facility in Frankfurt. This ensures that our efforts in extending these capabilities to the Americas region deliver the same successes as those experienced in Europe. The same concept will be applied in the HTE expansion to Asia.

How does HTE speed up research?

HTE approaches are a collection of research practices that are designed to deliver more information, hopefully with less effort. The more we understand about our processes and products, the better we can design solutions that deliver the required performance. Enhanced experimental design, automation-assisted execution, big data evaluation, and modeling are concepts that enable this in-depth knowledge.

Automation is nothing new to the industry. What sets the Clariant HTE group apart from the rest?

In most environments, automation is deployed for a particular process. At Clariant, for example, we successfully use high throughput screening for the development and optimization of catalysts at the Business Unit Catalysts or for the screening of enzymes and microorganisms in our Technology Platform Biotechnology. We have designed a laboratory that truly automates research from end to end with a broader scope of applications.

How does that increase efficiency?

The efficiency gained from automation comes from numbers, reproducibility, and times of operation. Many of our instruments work in parallel, and many reactions are being conducted simultaneously. Having operations run continuously, overnight and weekends, greatly increases the throughput when compared to classical laboratory approaches. This allows us to explore the full solution space. The efficiency is realized by gaining more knowledge in a shorter amount of time, thus providing answers and ultimately solutions faster.

How do you design experiments differently?

By initially focusing on the most important aspects required for screening, we can streamline efforts that will deliver results with the greatest impact. We employ software tools and statistical analysis to better understand the process and point us to the most promising areas for testing. This often yields solutions that can easily be overlooked with classical approaches.

How do you physically set up the experiments?

This was actually the biggest challenge when designing the first HTE lab. As a central research group we serve all Clariant Business Units. One day we synthesize molecules for personal care applications, the next day we optimize formulations for a refinery and the next, we model the stability of chocolate milk. So our lab is designed to allow quick transitions from one workflow to another.

Does HTE increase sustainability?

Yes, one way is by miniaturizing experiments. We can run experiments on much smaller scales compared to a standard chemical lab, thus using less raw materials and generating less waste. This both decreases costs and supports the progress towards Clariant’s environmental targets.

Will this type of automation replace people?

No, not at all. Often when brainstorming on a new research area, a great deal of ideas are generated and discussed. But time and resources are finite, which in turn limits the number of ideas that can realistically be explored. Automation allows for more. We use automation at Clariant to enable broad screening and exploration of the solution space. The information gained is then fed into the application labs of each Business Unit to help them determine where to focus their efforts and ultimately increase their chances of success in the market.