NEWS
IN BRIEF
Korea deal for Merck Merck KGaA has agreed to acquire the chemical business of Mecaro , a Korean manufacturer of heater blocks and chemical precursors for semiconductors , for € 75 million plus milestone payments of up to € 35 million . The deal should close in Q4 . It is part of the Level Up growth program of Merck ’ s Electronics business sector , which includes investments of significantly more than € 3 billion from 2021 to 2025 .
Singapore site for WuXi AppTec
Bio-attributed EO Ineos Oxide has launched and made the first sales of its ‘ bioattributed ethylene oxide ’, which is ISCC + certified as 100 % renewable on a mass balance basis , not competing with food production , and delivers a greenhouse gas saving of over 100 % compared to conventionally produced EO . The company uses this internally to make intermediates such as glycols , ethanolamines , glycol ethers and ethoxylates .
Solenis buys Clearon Solenis has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Clearon of South Charleston , West Virginia . Clearon makes tri- and dichloroisocyanuric acid and converts them into finished goods , such as sanitisers and disinfectants for applications including recreational water treatment , HI & I and other water treatment applications .
WuXi AppTec is to build a new R & D and manufacturing site in Singapore at a cost of up to $ 1.4 billion . It will be created in stages over the next ten years , depending on the company ’ s business needs . The company added that the site will serve “ a critical role in its global network across Asia , Europe and North America ”. It will include “ laboratories and facilities that provide a broad portfolio of R & D and manufacturing services ” for the pharmaceutical industry . More immediately , subsidiary company WuXi STA has opened both a large-scale oligonucleotide and peptide manufacturing facility and a new flow chemistry plant for large-scale API manufacture at its campus in Changzhou in Jiangsu province , China . The 2,840 m 2 oligonucleotide plant has four large-scale and over 20 small- to mid-scale production lines that increase the overall manufacturing capacity of a single synthesis run from 1.9 to 6.0 mol . The 2,000 m 2 peptide plant features three new production lines with reactors that can accommodate up to 1,000L , increasing the company ’ s total reactor volume for SPPS to 6,490L . The flow chemistry plant , meanwhile , features 11 continuous production lines that support 20 types of reactions . This brings the company ’ s total number of continuous manufacturing lines across China to 25 . This came shortly after WuXi STA opened another HPAPI plant at Changzhou . This consists of 250- 3,000 litre reactors , prep-HPLC systems , a 10 m 2 tray lyophiliser , plus flow chemistry and milling technologies . It also has advanced isolation technologies , enabling it to handle compounds with OELs down to 10 ng / m 3 .
6 SPECIALITY CHEMICALS MAGAZINE ESTABLISHED 1981