Trio make surfactant from carbon emissions
Earth Day , 22 April , saw a world first in the launch of the first product using a surfactant made from industrial carbon emissions . This was developed by Unilever , LanzaTech and India Glycols ( IGL ), and was used in an Omo laundry capsule in China ( pictured ). Gas fermentation specialist LanzaTech captured industrial emissions at its Beijing Shougang LanzaTech plant in China and converted them to ethanol . It claims that this process cuts greenhouse gas emissions by 82 % over the existing fossil-based process . IGL converted the ethanol into ethylene oxide , a feedstock for surfactant , which Unilever then used to make the capsule at its factory in Hefei , China . Unilever described this as one in a series of innovations being made via its new Clean Future strategy . Under this , the company aims to eliminate fossil-based chemicals from its cleaning and laundry product formulations by 2030 , replacing it with carbon from captured
CO 2
, plants and other biological sources marine sources , such as algae and waste materials .
China approves mega-merger
China ’ s State-owned Assets Supervision & Administration Commission ( SASAC ) has approved the long-planned merger of Sinochem and ChemChina . Partly to alleviate competition concerns , they will operate as separate subsidies of a newly created holding company that will be owned by SASAC . The combined entity will be by far the largest chemical producer in the world , with assets of about $ 245 billion . Speciality chemicals will be among its many operations , along with basic chemicals , materials , equipment and environmental sciences . The two firms have already been seeking to focus on higher value-added chemicals and materials in the last few years , notably by ChemChina acquiring Syngenta and combining their agricultural activities . The high cost of this deal has piled debt onto ChemChina and domestic sales are yet to match expectations . Some in China have openly called it a mistake and there has been speculation that the combined firm will list it separately in order to cut its debts , while still keeping a majority stake .
Merck invests in Japan
Merck KGaA is to spend € 20 million to expand the R & D and manufacturing capabilities at its site in Shizuoka , Japan , where it opened a 6,000 m 2 facility in January . Due to be complete by January 2022 , this will mainly address demand in areas driven by the digital economy boom .
The expanded site will make semiconductor materials , such as patterning materials , dielectrics , metal hard masks , hybrid-SOD , novel EUVrinse systems and directed self-assembly materials ; and display materials , like dielectrics , photoresist materials and quantum dot pixel colour converters . Merck describes Shizuoka as one of its key technology hubs in Japan . Since 1984 , it has played a particular in the development of patterning materials of all kinds . It will also continue working with other R & D centres in China , Korea , Taiwan and the US . In March , Merck changed the name of its Performance Materials business sector to Electronics . This followed years of realignment , particularly the acquisitions of Intermolecular and Versum Materials in 2019 , which mean that the Semiconductor Solutions and Display Solutions business units account for 90 % of its sales . Merck also invested € 18 million in the US in February , buying the 28,000 m 2 site at the Arizona State University Research Park in South Tempe . Versum had formerly leased it for over nine years and spent nearly $ 10 million manufacturing and R & D capabilities .
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