Business Roundup

Dow Chemical is closing its amines and chelants plant at the Seal Sands site in England in the next few months with the loss of 30 jobs. Dow cites high raw material costs and overcapacity in the market as reasons for the closure.

Chevron Phillips Chemical is studying an expansion of its poly‑ α-olefins capacity by 10,000 metric tons per year at its Cedar Bayou plant in Baytown, Texas. The expansion would increase capacity of the lubricant additives at the site by 20%.

Momentive Performance Materials has emerged from bankruptcy with $3 billion of debt erased from its balance sheet. The quartz and silicones company, which filed for Chapter 11 protection last April, will now have separate management and a separate board of directors from its sister company, Momentive Specialty Chemicals.

Clean Chemistry, a start-up based in Boulder, Colo., has raised $2.2 million in venture capital funding from Mercury Fund and other investors. The company markets singlet oxygen and superoxide oxidants for use in industrial water management, including treatment of “produced” water generated during hydraulic fracturing.

Agrium has acquired an equity stake in CH Biotech R&D, which specializes in technologies that foster root development, stress reduction, nutrient utilization, and other aspects of plant health. Earlier this year, the Canadian fertilizer maker took a controlling interest in Agricen, which develops biochemicals that enhance plant nutrition.

MedImmune, the biologics arm of AstraZeneca, has agreed to acquire Definiens, a privately held imaging and data analysis technology firm, in a stock deal valued at $150 million plus possible milestone payments. Definiens’s Cognition Network Technology system measures the identity, location, and relationships among components of complex tumors.

Lubrizol LifeSciences and the drug development services firm Particle Sciences have formed a partnership to provide materials and services for drug development and manufacturing. The alliance will combine Lubrizol’s custom polymer chemistry for drug delivery systems with Particle Sciences’ analytic, bioanalytic, and manufacturing services.

PerkinElmer has acquired Ceiba Solutions, a Boston-based provider of managed lab software and IT services. The business is now part of PerkinElmer’s OneSource unit, which handles lab IT, compliance, asset management, and multivendor instrument services.