Business Roundup

Honeywell and Albemarle are ending a hydroprocessing catalyst technology alliance that they formed in 2006. The two firms say they will go their separate ways in providing hydrotreating and other catalysts to oil refiners.

A. Schulman, has appointed Joseph M. Gingo, 71, as CEO. He previously served in that role from 2008 to 2014. After poor financial performance at the company, Bernard Rzepka, 56, stepped down from the top position.

Solvay has completed an expansion of its Piedmont, S.C., carbon fiber plant, doubling capacity at the facility. The plant’s production has been qualified by airplane maker Boeing and will be used in movable wing flaps and other aerospace applications.

Fusion Coolant Systems, a maker of supercritical carbon dioxide metalworking fluids, has raised $1.25 million from investors. The University of Michigan spin-out will use the funding to advance its technology in the automotive and aerospace sector.

Orion Engineered Carbons plans to shutter its carbon black plant in Ambès, France, by the end of this year. The facility currently employs 40 people and produces 45,000 metric tons of the tire additive annually.

VUV Analytics, a maker of ultraviolet absorption spectrometry instruments, has raised $6.5 million from investors. The funding will help the firm expand into the laboratory analytical and process control markets.

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals has signed an agreement with the Biomedical Advanced Research & Development Authority of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) to manufacture and study two antibody therapies for the potential prevention and treatment of Middle East respiratory syndrome. HHS will provide funding to Regeneron of up to $8.9 million.

Cerulean Pharma, a drug development firm specializing in nanoparticle-drug conjugates, says it will reduce its workforce by approximately 48%, to 23 full-time employees, by the end of the year. The company’s lead clinical candidate failed in trials for kidney cancer earlier this year.