Dutch specialty chemicals producer Nouryon is expanding its Application Development Centers in Deventer, the Netherlands, and at Chattanooga in the US state of Tennessee to offer advanced technical service capabilities dedicated to cleaning in Europe and North America.
Inovyn, PVC-producing subsidiary of Ineos, has inked two long-term power supply deals with Norway’s Statkraft, which claims to be Europe’s largest renewables producer. From May, Inovyn will draw 100 MW of exclusively renewable energy from Statkraft for an annual renewable energy production of 876 GWh per year and an additional 30 MW (263 GWh) from 2026.
The International Chemical Secretariat (ChemSec), a Swedish NGO that advocates for reducing the production and use of hazardous chemicals, has added 370 new per- or poly-fluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS) — also known as “forever chemicals” — to its Substitute It Now (SIN) List.
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has proposed a $5.4 million historic settlement with chemical giant Dow to cover its dioxin pollution cleanup efforts resulting from the company’s contamination of waterways dating back to the 19th century.
Saudi Arabian Mining Company (Ma’aden) has awarded a contract to Worley and JESA International for the provision of engineering, procurement, and construction management services on the first phase of its Phosphate 3 project.
Valent BioSciences, a US-based subsidiary of Japan’s Sumitomo Chemical, has acquired FBSciences, a Tennessee-based company specializing in biostimulants. Financial terms were not disclosed.
The governments of Australia and the Netherlands have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to develop a renewable hydrogen supply chain stretching from Australia to Europe, via the Port of Rotterdam.
A US federal appeals court panel has unanimously dismissed an attempt by Johnson & Johnson to use a controversial procedure that could resolve claims from lawsuits claiming the healthcare group’s talc-based baby powder caused their cancer.
To support the transition to electric vehicles, US-based Cabot Corporation plans to add capacity for conductive carbon additives (CCA) at its plant in Pampa, Texas. The company said the $75-90 million investment, which will add 15,000 t/y, is part of a five-year $200 million drive to expand its domestic output of the lithium-ion battery components.
German biotech CureVac has released preliminary data from its ongoing cooperation with UK drugmaker GSK on a new class of “transformative medicines” based on messenger mRNA.
French greentech firm Afyren will build a second bio-based organic acids plant, this time in Thailand, adding to a first facility in France. Marking its first international project, the new plant will be undertaken in partnership with Mitr Phol, which regards itself as the world’s third-largest sugar producer.
Sanner, a German manufacturer of pharmaceutical primary packaging and medical technology products, is expanding capacity. The company broke ground in January on a new production site and headquarters in Bensheim, as well as on a second manufacturing facility in Kunshan, China, that is due to start up this summer.
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) said its Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) has begun reviewing its marketing authorization for Novartis’ Adakveo, a medicine to prevent vaso-occlusive pain crises in patients with sickle cell disease.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has asked a US federal judge to hold “pharma bro” Martin Shkreli in contempt for forming another drug company that it said violates a January 2022 court order that banned him from working in the pharmaceutical industry
Colorcon, a US-based globally active manufacturer of pharmaceutical film coatings and specialty excipients, has signed a Put agreement to purchase Airnov Healthcare Packaging from compatriot private equity firm Arsenal Capital Partners.
Kazakh fertilizer producer Kazazot has chosen Spanish contractor Tecnicas Reunidas to build a new complex in Aktau, Mangistau Oblast, in the southwest of the country.
Sasol has signed two separate agreements for the supply of renewable energy to its sites in Sasolburg and Secunda in South Africa.
Johnson & Johnson’s pharmaceuticals subsidiary Janssen is walking away from plans to launch an HIV vaccine in the immediate future after the data safety monitoring board for its latest Phase 3 trial found that the shot was no better than a placebo.
Green energy company HH2E is planning to develop a second large-scale green hydrogen plant in Germany, as it embarks on its ambition to become one of the largest producers in Europe.
Is the grass really always greener on the other side? Scarcely heard up to now above the din European chemical companies have been making about being disadvantaged by the US Inflation Reduction Act, which subsidizes “green investment” by American companies, their US competitors are making noises of their own.
Days after the European Court of Justice ruled that EU member states could no longer grant temporary exemptions to farmers wanting to use expressly banned bee-toxic neonicotinoid pesticides, the brexited UK government granted emergency authorization for the neonicotinoid thiamethoxam to be used on sugar beet seeds.
In its second acquisition of the year so far, Azelis has agreed to buy Lidorr Elements, a leading Israeli specialty chemical distributor active in the crop protection, industrial materials and care & nutrition markets.
Through subsidiary NextChem Holding, Maire Tecnimont is taking an 83.5% stake in Italian technology licensor and process engineering design company Conser, expanding its portfolio into high-value specialty chemicals and biodegradable plastics.
Univar has entered into an agreement to buy Kale Kimya, a leading Turkish specialty chemicals distributor. Financial terms of the deal, which is expected to close during the first quarter of 2023, were not disclosed.
As part of a capacity increase for carboxylic acids, Oberhausen, Germany-based OQ Chemicals, part of Oman’s state-owned energy company OQ, is investing an undisclosed sum in an optimization and debottlenecking project for precursors at its German plants.
In its third fundraising round in less than two years, Hong Kong-listed globally active CDMO giant GenScript Biotech has netted a fresh $224 million capital injection for its biologics subsidiary ProBio, which was officially launched under that name in 2020.
Topsoe has been chosen by Beijing-based Mintal Hydrogen to provide its proprietary technology for a green ammonia plant in China. The 390,000 t/y plant, located in Baotou, Inner Mongolia, will be the first of its type in China, as well as Topsoe’s first power-to-X project in the country.
Financing for the $12 billion air separation unit gasification/power joint venture between US industrial gases producer Air Products and its Saudi subsidiary Air Products Qudra with Saudi Aramco and ACWA Power has moved forward another notch.
Indian drugmaker Sun Pharmaceutical Industries is to buy US biotech Concert Pharmaceuticals, gaining access to the latter’s lead product candidate deuruxolitinib for treating an autoimmune dermatological disease.
In what some see as a landmark decision, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in Luxembourg has ruled that EU member states should no longer be allowed to grant temporary exemptions for use of bee-toxic neonicotinoid pesticides expressly prohibited by law.
Following shareholder approval of the plans at an extraordinary general meeting on Jan.18, industrial gases and plant engineering conglomerate Linde has announced it will delist its share from the Frankfurt stock exchange with effect from Mar. 1. In future, the company will trade only on the New York stock exchange, as an Irish holding.
German multinational engineering group Thyssenkrupp and Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to explore a long-term partnership to create new markets for hydrogen and promote global clean energy value chains.
Solvay is investing an undisclosed sum at its site in Livorno, Italy, to launch its first circular highly dispersible silica (HDS), which is made with bio-based sodium silicate derived from rice husk ash.
BP is to conduct a feasibility study on building a new hydrogen hub in Wilhelmshaven, Germany. The hub would include an industrial-scale ammonia cracker, which could provide up to 130,000 t/y of low-carbon hydrogen from 2028, with scope for further expansion as the market for future fuels develops.
At the beginning of 2023, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) stepped into a political hornet’s nest with its decision to allow retail pharmacies to dispense abortion pills over the counter. It is now fighting the backlash, so far successfully.
