NEWS
IN BRIEF
LPC transfer completes Venator Materials has completed the sale of its 50 % interest in the Louisiana Pigment Company ( LPC )
TiO 2 manufacturing joint venture facility to its operating partner Kronos Worldwide . It has received $ 185 million in cash , subject to working capital adjustments , and expects a further earn-out payment of up to $ 15 million . This is part of an ongoing transformation programme for the troubled firm .
SNF buys two France ’ s SNF , which claims to be the global leader in water-soluble polymers , has signed agreements to acquire PfP Industries and Ace Fluid Solutions . Both are active in the oil and gas sector . PfP specialises in ‘ dry on the fly ’ and slurry friction reducer technologies and applications ; Ace is best known for expertise in fluid management and is active mainly in the Permian Basin .
New plant ready CDMO CiVentiChem has completed its manufacturing plant in India , expanding its total capacity by 300 %. This will produce regulatory starting materials and intermediates to support small molecule clinical and commercial needs . CEO Bhaskar Venepalli said that the decision to invest was driven by increasing customer demand for suppliers outside China .
That ’ s mine now … Solenis is to acquire BASF ’ s flocculants business for mining applications in a deal that should close within 2H 2024 . Financial details are not being disclosed . The business is active across the world and offers products for solid-liquid separation and material handling in mining . Solenis had previously acquired BASF ’ s paper wet-end and water chemicals business in 2019 .
Organic alternative for photocatalysis
According to scientists from the University of St Andrews , a family of four organic compounds that were originally developed as emitters for organic lightemitting diodes performed as well as , or even better than , common photocatalysts . The findings were reported in the academic journal Chem Catalysis .
Professor Eli Zysman- Colman and PhD student Lea Hämmerling tested four boron- and nitrogencontaining multi-resonant thermally activated delayed fluorescence compounds across a range of benchmark reactions . These compounds ’ intrinsic properties - strong absorption in the visible part of the spectrum , the relative insensitivity of their excited states to solvent polarity and their electron-rich character - make them of interest in strongly photoreducing photocatalysts .
In reactions such as pinacol coupling , dehalogenations and E / Z isomerisations , the compounds matched or outperformed several commonly used photocatalysts . This could well be of interest in the pharmaceutical and agrochemical industries , according to Zysman- Colman , because many traditional photocatalysts contain “ scarce , costly and toxic metals ”, like ruthenium and iridium .
Adipic acid chain closure for BASF
BASF is to end production of three chemicals at its main site in Ludwigshafen . This is part of an ongoing strategic review that is being undertaken “ to ensure competitiveness under changing market conditions ” and will lead to about 180 job cuts .
Production of cyclododecanone ( CDon ) and cyclopentanone ( CPon ) will end in 1H 2025 . CDon is used in the synthesis of musk fragrances and UV stabilisers , though mainly as a raw material for lauryl lactam , a precursor for
polyamide ( PA ) 12 . CPon is a building block for crop protection agents and APIs , a solvent in semiconductor manufacture and a fragrance precursor .
In 2H 2025 , BASF will also cease production of adipic acid , which had already been scaled down but was continued in order to ensure the supply of raw materials for CDon and CPon . It will carry on producing at sites in South Korea and France . Adipic acid is also used to produce PAs , polyurethanes , coatings and adhesives , among other things .
14 SPECIALITY CHEMICALS MAGAZINE ESTABLISHED 1981