Business Roundup

Arkema and a French subsidiary of the Canadian electric utility Hydro-Québec will set up a joint laboratory to develop novel materials for lithium-ion batteries. The French lab will research new electrolytes as well as conduction agents such as carbon nanotubes.

Vertellus has doubled alkane capacity at its Zeeland, Mich., hydrogenation plant. The company says it expects alkanes such as eicosane and octadecane to be used in phase-change material applications including foam mattresses and ski apparel.

Ingevity is the new name of MWV Specialty Chemicals, the chemical division of WestRock, which in turn is the new name of the paper company MeadWestvaco after its merger with Rock-Tenn earlier this year. WestRock plans to spin off Ingevity as a separate company later this year.

GrollTex, a start-up company formed by University of California, San Diego, graduate student Aliaksandr Zaretski, has received a “seed” investment from the Triton Fund, which invests in technology developed at UCSD or by UCSD alumni. GrollTex claims to have a way to cheaply produce graphene.

DuPont has licensed its cellulosic ethanol technology to Jilin Province New Tianlong Industry, which plans to build a plant using the technology in Siping City, Jilin province, China. NTL, which makes corn-based alcohol, says the new plant will supply the growing Chinese market for biofuels.

Agilent Technologies and Singapore’s Agency for Science, Technology & Research will collaborate on developing new analytical methods for therapeutic glycoproteins. Agilent will work with ASTAR’s Bioprocessing Technology Institute to improve mass-spectrometry-based glycan analysis during bioproduction.

Biogen’s head of R&D, Douglas Williams, is leaving the company to become CEO of an as-yet-unnamed biotech start-up focused on cancer. Last month, Astra­Zeneca’s chief medical officer, Briggs Morrison, left that firm, also to join a biotech company.

Aptuit, a Connecticut-based contract manufacturer, says it has increased its capacity and capabilities for making finished-drug products. The expansion follows a project announced in April to increase capacity in the U.K. and Italy for making active pharmaceutical ingredients.