Business Roundup

BASF opened a 50,000-metric-ton-per-year plant in Nanjing, China, that produces acrylamide by enzymatic reaction. The process, BASF claims, consumes less energy than does the traditional method of using a copper catalyst. Acrylamide is mostly used to produce water-soluble flocculation aids.

Air Liquide will invest $47 million as part of an oxygen and hydrogen supply agreement with the petrochemical producer Sinopec Beijing Yanshan. The deal involves taking over three existing air-separation plants and constructing a new nitrogen unit at the site in Beijing.

Shin-Etsu Chemical will spend $175 million to expand its cellulose derivative product range. By mid-2019 the firm will complete new production units at its plant in Naoetsu, Japan, and at its SE Tylose site in Wiesbaden, Germany.

Frutarom Industries has purchased a 60% interest in Thailand-based savory flavors maker Mighty for $12 million. Mighty has annual sales of $15 million and 180 employees serving customers in Southeast Asia.

Repairogen won a $5,000 prize at a start-up competition sponsored by Johnson & Johnson at the In-Cosmetics show in New York City earlier this month. The firm’s new active ingredient is said to inhibit DNA damage and signs of premature skin aging. The technology was developed at Weill Cornell Medical College.

Niacet has opened a high-purity anhydrous hydrogen chloride unit in Niagara Falls, N.Y., for semiconductor and pharmaceutical customers. Competitor Gas Innovations is building a facility to upgrade industrial HCl to high purity, which is scheduled to start up next year.

Thomas Swan & Co. has purchased the Opelika, Ala., specialty chemical facility of Apollo Chemical. U.K.-based Thomas Swan says the move will satisfy demand from U.S. customers for custom specialty chemicals.

Synthego, a Redwood City, Calif., start-up that develops bioinformatics software and synthetic RNA kits for CRISPR gene editing and research, has obtained an undisclosed investment from Intel Capital. The investment is the first for the chipmaker’s venture capital arm in CRISPR tools.