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Environment

Business Roundup

June 28, 2010 | A version of this story appeared in Volume 88, Issue 26

Kemira has sold its business in fluorescent whitening agents for paper to the German firm Catec for an undisclosed sum. According to Kemira, the business employs about 100 people and includes a plant in Leverkusen, Germany.

Dow Chemical has completed the sale of its Styron styrenic polymer, synthetic rubber, and polycarbonate business to Bain Capital for $1.6 billion. As part of the deal, Dow is retaining a 7.5% equity stake in the business; it originally had an option to take as much as a 15% interest.

Orica intends to expand ammonium nitrate capacity at its Kooragang Island plant, in Australia, by 320,000 metric tons per year by 2015, bringing total capacity to 750,000 tons. The firm expects to spend up to $655 million on the project to support growing demand from mining operations in Southeast Asia for the explosive.

BASF and RTI International have received a $2 million cooperative research award from the Department of Energy to develop a new system to capture carbon dioxide from the flue stacks of coal-fired power plants. The two will work on a recyclable nonaqueous solvent system that could use 40% less energy than conventional amine-based processes.

Dow Chemical has received a $3 million award from the Department of Energy to develop next-generation insulation systems with a lower carbon footprint than current systems for walls, roofs, and foundations. The firm says it will match the DOE award over the three-year term of the research effort.

Huntsman is undertaking a study, to be wrapped up in the third quarter of this year, that may call for the expansion of its Singapore polyetheramine plant. The company recently expanded capacity for the product in Singapore and Wales.

Bayer Schering Pharma and OncoMed Pharmaceuticals are joining to develop biologic and small-molecule drugs that target cancer stem cells, which are believed to play a role in the establishment and recurrence of cancer. Under the deal, Bayer will pay OncoMed $40 million up front and as much as $500 million in potential milestone payments.

Pacific Biosciences, a privately held Menlo Park, Calif.-based biotech firm with single-molecule DNA sequencing technology, has snagged $50 million in funding from Gen-Probe, a San Diego firm that makes nucleic acid tests. The companies will also work together to develop integrated clinical diagnostics systems.

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