Business Roundup

Ineos will expand its Green Lake, Texas, acrylonitrile plant by about 20% through installation of a fourth reactor. The firm says the expansion, slated for completion in the third quarter of 2008, will result in the largest acrylonitrile plant in the world, with a capacity of 1.2 billion lb per year.

Lanxess says it will shut down its hydrazine hydrate plant in Weifang, China, for several months following "an operational incident." The plant is one that Lanxess dismantled in Baytown, Texas, two years ago and moved to China.

DuPont says a plan to invest $100 million in new agricultural products will create an additional 400 positions for transfers and new hires, mostly in R&D, in its Pioneer Hi-Bred International seed subsidiary. When DuPont announced the plan in December, it said some 1,500 jobs in older businesses would be eliminated.

Reliance Industries' board has approved a $3billion ethylene cracker complex at its refinery in Jamnagar, India. The company will use refinery off-gases as feedstock to make 2 million metric tons annually of chemical products such as ethylene, propylene, and derivatives. It is expected to be completed by 2011.

Honeywell's electronic materials business will expand an R&D center in Spokane, Wash., where it develops packaging materials for semiconductor manufacturers. The project will cost more than $1 million and be complete by the end of 2007.

Solvay's Solexis subsidiary will expand capacity for perfluoropolyether polymers at its plant in Spinetta Marengo, Italy. The expanded plant will also produce hydrofluoropolyether, a heat-transfer fluid said to have improved environmental impact.

JFC Technologies will contract manufacture a degradable polymer used in a mesh pouch being developed by TyRx Pharma. Called Pivit CRM, the pouch combines the polymer and antimicrobials to protect pacemakers during implantation.

New River Pharmaceuticals' drug Vyvanse, for treating attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder, was approved by FDA on Feb. 23. Just three days before, the company's development partner, Shire Pharmaceuticals, moved to acquire New River for $2.6 billion (C&EN, Feb. 26, page 10).

ITI Life Sciences, a government-owned Scottish firm that funds R&D programs, has signed two agreements covering technology created during its fluorescence lifetime assay program. It will license novel fluorescent dyes to Almac Sciences and a fluorescence lifetime plate reader to Edinburgh Instruments.