Business Roundup

Invista says the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware has found that Mossi & Ghisolfi infringed Invista’s patent for PolyShield, a polyethylene terephthalate packaging resin that has oxygen barrier properties intended to extend food and beverage shelf life. M&G has the right to appeal the decision.

Praxair has started up a second nitrogen plant at its Kirtland, N.M., facility. Along with an additional expansion to be completed later this year, total liquid nitrogen capacity at Kirtland will be 300 tons per day. Demand for nitrogen is on the rise to replace water in hydraulic fracturing for oil and gas production, the firm says.

Celanese has signed a memorandum of understanding with PetroChina to advance use of synthetic ethanol, produced via the U.S. firm’s TCX technology, in the Chinese fuel market. The TCX process converts natural gas and coal into liquid fuels. Celanese is building a 275,000-metric-ton-per-year coal-based ethanol plant in Nanjing.

BASF designed the expanded-thermoplastic-polyurethane-based particle foam now being used in the Energy Boost, a new running shoe from sports apparel maker Adidas, to absorb shock impact on the foot. The foam provides a rebound effect to give the runner “an energy return not offered by any other running shoe,” BASF says.

Monsanto a has completed$31 million expansion of its vegetable seed research headquarters in Woodland, Calif., including a 90,000-sq-ft laboratory and office building. The site has a special seed analyzer that will allow researchers to know the genetic characteristics of a plant before it is grown, to pinpoint desired traits.

BHP Billiton is moving forward with its $2.6 billion Jansen project, a massive potash mine in Saskatchewan that has been in the planning stages for several years. The company expects to complete mine shafts in 2016 and related infrastructure by 2017.

Sasol has designated Technip as its contractor of choice for future gas-to-liquids projects. The alliance between the engineering firm and Sasol will speed front-end engineering services on Sasol projects aimed at converting natural gas into such products as naphtha and diesel fuel, the partners say.

Sanofi Pasteur has selected Freeslate’s Biologics Formulation System, a high-throughput experimentation system for pharmaceutical research. Sanofi will use the system for vaccine and protein formulation development.