German plastics additives manufacturer Baerlocher is adding capacity for its calcium-based PVC stabilizers at Bury, UK. The company said it will expand output by more than 50% in 2022 by installing new mixing and granulation units.
Germany’s Merck has opened its second production facility for viral vectors at Carlsbad, California, a move the company said significantly expands its global CDMO footprint. The new €100 million plant will more than double the company’s existing capacity to support large-scale commercial and industrial manufacturing for viral gene therapy.
US specialty chemicals company Ingevity has announced plans to hike capacity for caprolactone monomer at its facility in Warrington, UK. The increase will be achieved through a series of optimization projects over the next 12 months that will expand Ingevity’s global monomer capacity by more than 20%.
Industrial gases producer Air Products has announced its largest-ever investment in the US, a $4.5 billion clean energy complex in the state of Louisiana’s Ascension Parish. The company will build, own and operate the mammoth facility expected to go on stream in 2026, producing more than 750 million standard cubic feet (22.5 million cubic meters) per day of “blue” hydrogen and blue ammonia.
Czech company Orlen Unipetrol, part of Poland’s refining and petrochemicals group PKN Orlen, has announced plans to expand its steam cracker at Litvinov by adding an eleventh furnace. The project costing about 700 million Czech koruna (about €27 million) will expand ethylene output at the site to 585,000 t/y from 545,000 t/y.
Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies, a subsidiary of Japan’s Fujifilm Corp., has announced plans to spend more than $2 billion to build a new large-scale cell culture production site in the US to accelerate the growth of its biopharma CDMO business.
