Business Roundup

DSM has formed an alliance with Cleveland-based start-up Proxy Biomedical to develop DSM’s high-performance polyethylene fiber as a durable surgical mesh. The two expect to develop the mesh for orthopedic repairs.

Air Liquide plans to invest more than $54 million to build air separation facilities in the Indian states of Gujarat and Maharashtra. Projects include a facility to supply nitrogen to the Sezal Glass plant in Jhagadia and one to produce nitrogen for the new Kemrock Industries carbon fiber plant in Vadodara.

Rhodia facilities in Saint-Fons and La Rochelle, France, will process rare-earth materials contained in powders left over from the recycling of fluorescent light bulbs. The facilities will use a Rhodia-developed process to recover the materials starting in early 2012.

OCI, a South Korean chemical maker, has acquired CornerStone Power Development, a Chicago-based developer of utility-scale solar power plants. OCI manufactures high-purity polysilicon for solar cells. In December 2010, it announced that it will invest $1.6 billion in a 20,000-metric-ton-per-year plant in South Korea.

Materia has received a $17 million investment from the Midwest investment group Bader/Bernstein and Alfred Bader, cofounder in 1951 of Aldrich Chemical. Materia was founded in 1998 to commercialize olefin metathesis catalyst technology.

LanzaTech, a New Zealand-based waste-to-ethanol start-up, has signed an agreement with IndianOil to collaborate on a process that turns refinery waste gas into fuel-grade ethanol. The firms say the partnership will help IndianOil comply with renewable fuel standards in India.

International Flavors & Fragrances plans to invest more than $100 million in Asia over the next three years. The firm says the money will go to build a flavor manufacturing facility in Guangzhou, China, and a flavor and fragrance plant in Singapore.

Allos Therapeutics will reduce staff by about 13%, eliminating approximately 23 jobs and saving about $4 million. Cuts will come primarily from R&D. The firm, which markets the cancer treatment Folotyn, says its sales staff will be unaffected by the reduction.

ShangPharma, one of China’s largest contract research organizations, has inaugurated a facility in Shanghai’s Fengxian district for active pharmaceutical ingredients and advanced intermediates. ShangPharma says the plant will allow it to make pharmaceutical chemicals for Phase II and III clinical trials.