AMSTERDAM, 20 November 2019, 08:30 CET – Avantium Catalysis and Japan-based catalyst and process licensing company Nikki-Universal entered into an agency agreement to better serve Avantium’s customers and boost its business in Japan. Through Nikki-Universal, Avantium expects to generate leads for both its Flowrence® units as well as for service projects.
Japan is highly advanced in technology and has a large chemicals sector, including some large refineries. The country has a strong focus on catalysis research and data quality and has a global top-three position in patent-filings on catalysis. It therefore offers the perfect environment for the Catalysis business unit of Avantium.
Steven Olivier, managing director of Avantium Catalysis, comments: “We highly value the strong network of Nikki-Universal within the Japanese chemical sector. Also, we see that our Flowrencetm technology delivers the performance that chemical and catalyst companies in Japan value. We are therefore very pleased to enter into a partnership with Nikki-Universal who will help us further boost our rapidly growing business in Japan.”
Hirofumi Itoh, President of Nikki-Universal, says: “We believe that an advanced high-throughput platform for catalysts and adsorbents testing provided by Avantium will assist the promoting of development of chemical related technology and business in Japan through our business network”.

About Avantium’s Flowrence Technology®
Avantium’s Flowrence Technology® is an advanced high-throughput platform for high-quality testing of catalysts and adsorbents. The Flowrence Technology® can be used for a broad range of industrial applications that operate in gas, vapor or trickle phases. The parallel reactor system combines the reproducibility of larger-scale reactors with the advantages of small-scale reactors such as intrinsic safety, high accuracy, low costs per experiment and, ultimately, faster time-to-market. The Flowrence Technology® is leading for refinery, green chemistry and many other applications. The combination of Avantium’s broad knowledge of applications and the Flowrence Technology® creates a powerful, cost-efficient method of testing catalysts and a faster way to bring new products to the market.
About Nikki-Universal
Nikki-Universal Co., Ltd. (N-U) is a joint venture company established in 1963 by JGC Corporation, a Japanese corporation, and UOP LLC (UOP), a United States company. N-U’s business is mainly to manufacture and sell Refining & Petrochemical catalysts for UOP processes and environmentally friendly catalysts.