NEWS
IN BRIEF
A RAFT of chemistries Thomas Swan ’ s has added reversible addition – fragmentation chain transfer ( RAFT ) polymerisations to its capabilities . This technology , said business director Tom Porter , “ helps us to control the architecture of a polymer to help develop and deliver polymers with a higher degree of complexity in a controlled manner ”.
Stepan steps out Stepan has begun construction to modify its site at Pasadena , Texas , to be its global alkoxylation hub . Due to be operational in late 2023 , this will make 75,000 tonnes / year of alkoxylates via ethoxylation and propoxylation . Alkoxylates are a core surfactant technology in Stepan ’ s key agricultural , oil and gas , construction and household end-use markets .
New facility for Oleon Oleochemicals producer Oleon has begun construction of a $ 50 million production facility in Baytown , Texas . Due to be put into service at the end of 2023 , this will produce esters and provide blending services to support the firm ’ s growing oil and gas business , while bringing it closer to customers in the North America . The firm has six production sites in Belgium , Germany , France , the US and Malaysia .
Two work on phosphorus Kemira and Veolia Wasser Deutschland are to work together on the full-scale technology assessment of ViviMag , a technology the former developed with others to recover phosphorus and other valuable resources , such as iron , from sewage sludge . The first trial will take place at Veolia ’ s plant in Schönebeck , Germany , during 2H .
Distribution giants buy
Azelis , the third largest chemical distributor in the world , has agreed to acquire a majority of ROCSA Colombia in a deal expected to close in Q3 . This takes the company further into the Latin American markets follows the establishment of its regional innovation centre in Mexico . ROCSA is described as one of the largest speciality chemical distributors in Colombia , with a rapidly growing presence in Peru and Central America . It has 230 employees and four offices across the region , and is active in food and nutrition , personal care , home care , industrial cleaning , CASE and plastic additives . Shortly before this , Azelis had acquired Chemo India and Unipharm Laboratories . Both are local distributors of speciality chemicals and ingredients for the pharmaceutical , CASE , lubricants and metalworking markets . The two firms are based in Mumbai and have four sites in Bhiwandi . Owners Amit Shah and Jigar Shah will continue to lead them . Meanwhile , IMCD , the fourth largest distributor , has acquired Chinese firm Welex . Particularly strong in southern China , Welex focuses on coatings and inks , textiles , additives for speciality compounding and agrochemicals . It had sales of about € 39 million in 2021 and 68 employees at five offices . The deal should close within Q3 . Earlier , IMCD formed a new business group called Industrial Solutions , which will absorb the previous Synthesis group and areas of the other industries it serves . Led by Dr Fikri Alemdaroglu , Industrial Solutions is focused on four key areas of chemical intermediates , environmental technologies , material technologies and processing technologies .
Genomatica and Unilever to scale bio-alternatives
Unilever and Genomatica have launched a $ 120 million venture to scale up and commercialise plantbased alternatives to palm oil and fossil fuel-derived cleansing ingredients , particularly for use in personal care products . This will use Genomatica ’ s established biotechnology platform that makes materials from plant- or waste-based product . “ Beyond creating a newly transparent supply chain , initial estimates have shown that companies could reduce the carbon footprint of palmderived ingredients by up to 50 %,” the two stated . Palm oil will remain an important feedstock , but “ these alternative ingredients can play a growing role in diversifying supply chains to drive optionality , sustainability and cost management ”. This is the latest in a series of collaborations with major players by Genomatica , which include producing a plant-based version HMDA for sustainable coatings with Covestro , renewably-sourced PA 6,6 made from biobased HMD and a multi-year collaboration to bring renewably-sourced , biobased materials into Lululemon Athletica ’ s products . In May , a groundbreaking ceremony took place at the biotechnology campus in Eddyville , Iowa , where Cargill and Helm ’ s Qore joint venture will produce renewable 1,4-butanediol ( BDO ) using Genomatica ’ s Geno BDO process . When complete in 2024 , it have 100,000 tonnes / year of capacity .
12 SPECIALITY CHEMICALS MAGAZINE ESTABLISHED 1981