RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil and AMSTERDAM, December 7 /PRNewswire/ -- Petrobras and Avantium announced today that they have started a research collaboration for the development of new catalysts for emerging technologies within Petrobras, Brazil's largest energy company.

Avantium specializes in experimental methodologies that enable scientists to conduct parallel experiments on a very small scale and at a very high speed. This increases productivity and allows scientists to explore and compare very large numbers of experimental conditions and catalytic materials. Statistical techniques are applied to direct the experimental program into the most promising areas and to extract knowledge from the data that can be used to optimize industrial processes.

Prof. Dr. Eduardo Falabella S. Aguiar, Senior Advisor at Petrobras R&D, says: "Petrobras considers the collaboration with Avantium an excellent opportunity to develop catalysts in a very fast and reliable manner, since the high throughput evaluation methodology developed by this company allows Petrobras to test an enormous amount of samples. Moreover, the fact that Avantium tests are tailor made, enables Petrobras to reduce the costs of experimentation and to increase the success rate thereof."

"We are confident that the combined efforts of both teams in these research programs will create value and lead to promising new catalyst technologies for Petrobras. Our skills set has proven to significantly reduce the time-to-market of new products and processes and we are happy that Petrobras has decided for Avantium's capabilities to strengthen its research and development efforts," commented Tom van Aken, Chief Executive Officer of Avantium Technologies.

Profile Petrobras

Petrobras is a publicly listed company that operates in the oil, gas and energy sector. Founded in 1953, Petrobras is now the world's 14th largest oil company. Leader in the Brazilian hydrocarbons sector, Petrobras has been expanding, in order to become an integrated energy company with international operations, and the leader in Latin America.

Profile Avantium

Avantium is a leading technology company in the area of advanced high-throughput R&D operating in the energy, chemicals and pharmaceutical industries. The company develops products and processes in the area of biofuels, bio-based chemicals and novel crystal forms of existing drugs by applying its proprietary, high-throughput R&D technology. Avantium has demonstrated the potential of this technology by providing R&D services and tools to more than 70 companies worldwide, including many of the world's largest energy, chemicals and pharmaceutical companies. Avantium has approximately 100 employees; its offices and head quarters are based in Amsterdam.

Mariëtte Hoogendoorn, Phone:+31-20-586-8010, Email: mariette.hoogendoorn@avantium.com