Neste Studies Porvoo Shift to Renewable, Circular Feedstocks
Finnish oil refiner Neste has launched a study on transforming its Porvoo facility to renewables and circular feedstocks, ending crude oil refining in the mid-2030s.
News
Topsoe and First Ammonia in Electrolyzer Agreement
Haldor Topsoe and First Ammonia have entered into a capacity reservation agreement that they said will kickstart the global market for green ammonia.
Hempel Buys Cap Couleurs Store Network
Danish coatings company Hempel has acquired Cap Couleurs’ store network in southeastern France, maintaining its segment leadership in the Var region and supporting its growth initiatives. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Calum MacLean to Head Lanxess-Advent JV
German specialty chemicals producer Lanxess and private equity group Advent International have named Calum MacLean as CEO-designate of their planned joint venture for high-performance engineering plastics.
Koch and Ioniqa Partner on PET Recycling Technology
Koch Technology Solutions, the licensing arm of Koch Engineered Solutions, is partnering Ioniqa Technologies, a Dutch clean-tech spinoff from the Eindhoven University of Technology, to scale up and commercialize the latter’s advanced PET recycling process.
Henkel Buys NBD Nanotechnologies
Henkel has acquired US advanced materials start-up NBD Nanotechnologies for an undisclosed sum. Headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, NBD specializes in developing coatings and additives with surface wettability.
Bayer CEO Baumann Headed for early Exit?
CEO Werner Baumann may be headed for an early exit from Bayer, Bloomberg reports.
Stepan Buys Surfactants from PerformanX
US specialty chemicals company Stepan has agreed to acquire the surfactant business and associated assets of compatriot firm PerformanX Specialty Chemicals. The purchase will include intellectual property, commercial relationships and inventory.
Global Amines Commissions Indonesia Plant
Singapore’s Global Amines – a joint venture between compatriot company Wilmar and Switzerland’s Clariant – has successfully started up a new fatty amines plant in Surabaya, Indonesia.
Air Liquide Sells Saudi Industrial Merchant Business
French industrial gases group Air Liquide has announced the sale of its industrial merchant business in Saudi Arabia to Abdullah Hashim Industrial Gases & Equipment for an undisclosed sum.
LyondellBasell Wins Two Lupotech PE Projects
LyondellBasell has won two separate contracts to supply its Lupotech T high-pressure technology for new PE plants.
Kemira Sells Colorants Dye Business to Chromascape
Kemira has agreed to sell its colorants dye business to Chromascape, a US-based specialty colorants and additives supplier.
WuXi Opens Lipid Nanoparticle Facility
WuXi STA has opened a sterile lipid nanoparticle (LNP) formulation development and manufacturing facility at its campus in Wuxi city, China, in response to rising demand for complex injection dosage forms.
India’s Calibre Buys RheinPerChemie from Evonik
Indian specialty chemicals company Calibre Chemicals has agreed to acquire RheinPerChemie (RPC) from Evonik. Based in Rheinfelden, Germany, RPC manufactures ammonium and sodium persulfates.
Axens and Doris Collaborate on Carbon Capture
French engineering groups Axens and Doris have entered into a partnership to develop integrated carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) services.
IMCD Buys Japan’s Kuni Chemical
IMCD has taken over Japanese specialty distribution company Kuni Chemical for an undisclosed sum. Kuni specializes in industrial applications that range from coatings and construction to automotive and packaging materials.
Hovione Expands Continuous Manufacturing Capabilities
Portuguese CDMO Hovione has expanded its continuous manufacturing capabilities with the start-up of a new facility at Loures. The company said it can now offer customers a commercial continuous tableting platform to support their key needs.
Germany’s Merck Expands French Facility
German science and technology company Merck has announced plans to invest more than €130 million at its site in Molsheim, France, to expand capacities for single-use assemblies, a key technology for producing Covid-19 vaccines and other therapies.
Solvay Invests in Sustainable Soda Ash Process
Solvay is launching a pilot project at its site in Dombasle, France, to validate a more sustainable process for producing soda ash.
Novo Nordisk Licenses Zealand’s Diabetes Treatment
Denmark’s Novo Nordisk has entered into a global license and development with compatriot biotech Zealand Pharma for the latter’s Zegalogue (dasiglucagon) injectable diabetes treatment.
Novartis to Shutter a Sandoz US Plant
In advance of the planned spinoff of generics subsidiary Sandoz into a standalone generics producer, Novartis has announced it is closing one of the subsidiary’s US plants.
Lonza and Touchlight Collaborate on DNA
Lonza has entered into a collaboration with Touchlight, a biotechnology company with patented technology for producing enzymatic DNA. The enzymatic manufacturing process is said to enable GMP production at “unprecented speed, scale and purity.”
BASF Commissions Solar Farm at Schwarzheide
BASF Schwarzheide, subsidiary of the German-multinational chemical group, together with local east German utility company Envia Mitteldeutsche Energie, has commissioned the region’s first solar farm. The project was announced by BASF last year as part of its plans to focus on renewable energy for its chemical production.
SK Closes Sale of NuCera Solutions to Chase
An affiliate of funds advised by SK Capital Partners has completed the sale of NuCera Solutions to international specialty chemicals company Chase Corp. for $250 million. The companies entered into the agreement on Jul. 18.
Topsoe Gives Green Light for Electrolyzer Plant
The board of Danish technology and catalyst company Haldor Topsoe has taken a final investment decision to build a solid oxide electrolysis cell (SOEC) manufacturing plant in Herning.
Eurotecnica Wins More Melamine Contracts
Eurotecnica, the technology arm of energy firm and major methanol producer Proman, has announced the award of two large contracts for implementing high-pressure melamine plants.
US Drugmaker Merck & Co. to Add Jobs in Ireland
US drugmaker Merck & Co. plans to add 100 new jobs as part of an expansion project at its site in Carlow, Ireland, which opened in 2008 as the company’s first vaccines facility outside of the US and currently employs 530 people.
BASF, SABIC and Linde Start Building Demo E-cracker
BASF, SABIC and Linde have started building a plant to demonstrate using electricity instead of natural gas to heat steam cracker furnaces. The move follows the signing of a joint agreement in March 2021 to develop and demonstrate solutions for electrifying steam crackers.
Novartis Sued over its own Drug
Swiss drugmaker Novartis, already embroiled in a number of lawsuits against generics producers seeking to create copies of its blockbuster cardiac insufficiency treatment Entresto, is now itself being sued.
EMA’s CHMP Greenlights Omicron-1 Vaccines
The human medicines committee (CHMP) of EU drug regulator European Medicines Agency (EMA) has recommended approval of the updated Covid-19 vaccines of Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, combining protection against the original Omicron variant as well as the wild type that emerged in China in early 2020.
BASF to Collaborate with Sulzer ChemTech
Germany’s BASF and Swiss-based technology firm Sulzer Chemtech have announced plans to collaborate on finding sustainable solutions for a number of industrial applications, in particular renewable fuels and chemically recycled plastics.
Technip Energies Buys DSM’s Biosuccinium Technology
French engineering and technology company Technip Energies has boosted its sustainable chemicals portfolio with the purchase of DSM’s biosuccinium technology. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Clariant Sells Quats to Global Amines
Clariant has agreed to sell its quats business to Singapore’s Global Amines for $113 million. Global Amines is a 50:50 joint venture between Clariant and Singapore-based agricultural and oleochemicals company Wilmar.
AstraZeneca CEO Goes “Off Message” on Covid Boosters
Days before the FDA approved the new bivalent Covid-19 vaccine boosters, Pascal Soriot, CEO of AstraZeneca, offered his own assessment of the need for such.
Novo Nordisk Boosts Blood Disorders with Forma Buy
Danish pharma Novo Nordisk has agreed to acquire US clinical-stage biopharma Forma Therapeutics in a deal worth $1.1 billion that will expand its blood disorders portfolio. Forma’s board of directors has unanimously approved the takeover, which is expected to close in the final quarter of 2022.
