NEWS
IN BRIEF
Scammers bilk Orion of $ 60 million
Largest citral plant opens After 13 years of work , Wanhua Chemical of China has commissioned its 48,000 tonnes / year citral facility , which is the largest single-unit production plant of its kind in the world . Citral has a complex production process that is subject to stringent technical requirements . It is mainly used as an aroma and nutrition intermediate and a fragrance raw materials .
Pigment progress Lanxess has reversed its decision to sell the chromium oxide pigments operation at Krefeld-Uerdingen and will continue to produce them . This follows lengthy negotiations that ended in securing a longterm supply of raw materials and identifying further potential for improvement along the entire value chain , according to board chairman Matthias Zachert . The 50 employees will also be retained .
Luxembourg-based carbon black giant Orion has made a Form 8-K filing with the US Securities & Exchange Commission stating that it expects to record a one-time pre-tax charge of about $ 60 million . This is apparently the result of a wire fraud scheme , though it was not explicitly spelled out .
The company said that on 10 August , an employee who was not a named executive officer “ was the target of a criminal scheme that resulted in multiple fraudulently induced outbound wire transfers to accounts controlled by unknown third parties ”. There was no breakin into its systems or data breach .
“ To date , the company has not found any evidence of additional fraudulent activity and currently does not believe the incident resulted in any unauthorised access to data or systems maintained by the company ,” the filing continued . “ However , the company ’ s investigation into the incident and its impacts on the company , including its internal controls , remains ongoing .”
Frauds like this typically involve using an email address with a slight variation on a known and trusted one to which large money transfers are regularly authorised . They led to total losses of $ 2.9 billion across the US in 2023 . The fraud against Orion is not expected to do the company any serious damage as it recently projected net sales of $ 382-415 million on net sales of $ 1.46-1.54 billion in 1H .
Aether works for Seqens India ’ s Aether Industries has signed a take-or-pay agreement to produce unspecified biobased products exclusively for Seqens ’ UK-based subsidiary Chemoxy International over an initial three years . Production should begin over the next ten months with output of over 100 tonnes / year . The manufacturing process involves a complex process and continuous reaction technology that Seqens and Aether co-developed .
Chemours opens battery lab Chemours has opened its Battery Innovation Centre ( CBIC ) at the Chemours Discovery Hub in Newark , Delaware . CBIC will support testing and scaling next-generation lithiumion battery technologies for hybrid and electric vehicles in partnership with customers . It will also advance the company ’ s novel dry electrode coating technology based on Teflon fluoropolymer binders .
Arcadium buys lithium metal business
Arcadium Lithium , the company formed by the merger of Livent and Allkem at the start of the year , has acquired the lithium metal business of Li-Metal for $ 11 million . This includes a pilot production facility in Ontario . Li-Metal founder and CTO Maciej Jastrzebski has entered into a consulting agreement to facilitate the transfer of technology and integrate the team . Arcadium said that this will strengthen its position in lithium metal “ by providing safer , lower cost and more sustainable processes ”, using grades of lithium carbonate that Li-Metal produces in Argentina . It will also complement existing process technologies for lithium metal at its Bessemer City site in North Carolina , using concentrated lithium chloride from its own Argentine facility .
Upstream , however , Arcadium has announced plans to alter its investment in response to low lithium prices . As a result , it will spend approximately $ 500 million less over the next 24 months .
The company will pause current investment in its 40,000 tonnes / year spodumene Galaxy project in Canada and seek a capital partner , while completing the two parts of a 25,000 tonnes / year lithium carbonate project at Salar del Hombre Muerto in Argentina sequentially instead of simultaneously . The 32,000 tonnes / year Nemaska Lithium integrated spodumene to hydroxide project in Canada will not be affected .
10 SPECIALITY CHEMICALS MAGAZINE ESTABLISHED 1981