Business Roundup

Clariant will sell its quaternary ammonium chemistry business to Global Amines for $113 million. Global Amines is a joint venture between Clariant and the agribusiness firm Wilmar International. Clariant says the move is part of a push to become a pure-play specialty chemical firm.

Kaneka plans to expand capacity for silyl-terminated polyether, used in sealants and elastic adhesives, at its plant in Belgium. The project will cost about $36 million and boost capacity by 10,000 metric tons per year.

BASF’s care chemical group is investing in the natural ingredient firm Ingredi. The China-based company specializes in personal care actives extracted from Himalayan plants.

Sekisui Specialty Chemicals says it will expand polyvinyl alcohol capacity by as much as 25% across its two plants in the US and one plant in Spain. The firm says the western hemisphere relies heavily on polyvinyl alcohol imports from Asia.

Kraton and Formosa Petrochemical plan to increase hydrogenated styrenic block copolymer capacity by 30% at their joint venture in Mailiao, Taiwan. South Korea’s DL Chemicals bought Kraton earlier this year.

Servier and GNS have partnered to develop drugs for multiple myeloma. The collaboration will rely on GNS’s Digital Twin technology, which uses patient data and artificial intelligence to model biological mechanisms.

Sasol and the energy infrastructure firm Advario will evaluate building an ethylene import terminal at Sasol’s chemical plant in Brunsbüttel, Germany. The facility would have capacity to store 30,000 m³ of ethylene.

Bactolife has received a $5 million investment from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The Danish company’s Binding Proteins, which imitate proteins in human breast milk, are intended to reduce the risk of gut infections by neutralizing the impact of bad microbes without wrecking the good microbiome.