Business Roundup

Koura and the South Korean chemical firm Foosung plan to build a plant in Poland for inorganic fluorine compounds used to make lithium-ion batteries. Koura, part of the Mexican firm Orbia, aims to start building the plant later this year on land owned by Foosung.

BASF will work with Zhejiang REEF Technology to improve plastics recycling. BASF will contribute its IrgaCycle additives, which are intended to improve the stability of recycled plastics contaminated with paint, ink, or adhesives. REEF produces recycled plastics in China.

Air Company has appointed the green chemistry pioneer Paul Anastas to its board. The Brooklyn-based firm reacts electrolytic hydrogen with captured carbon dioxide to make alcohols, including hand sanitizer, perfume base, and vodka.

Bioceres Crop Solutions has agreed to buy Marrone Bio Innovations in an all-stock deal worth $236 million. The firms say the deal adds Morrone’s biological crop protection and plant health offerings to Bioceres’s expertise in bionutrition and seed care.

Evonik Industries and Nutrition Technologies, a Singapore-based maker of insect-derived animal feed, will launch research to determine the amino acid requirements of black soldier flies. Insect-derived feed uses less water and land than traditional feed, the partners say.

Philochem and Bracco Imaging will collaborate on the commercialization of a small organic molecule for imaging applications. The firms say the molecule can detect metastatic solid tumors in cancer patients.

Mytide Therapeutics has raised $7 million in series A financing to scale up its method for improving peptide manufacturing. The firm says it uses machine learning to conduct peptide synthesis, analysis, and purification 30 times as fast as traditional techniques.

Fujifilm will acquire Shenandoah Biotechnology, a Warminster, Pennsylvania–based manufacturer of recombinant proteins. Shenandoah recently launched a line of cytokines and growth factors.