Business Roundup

Nippon Shokubai has invested in Hunan Fluopont New Materials, a Chinese firm that plans to launch a business in LiFSi, a lithium salt used as a battery electrolyte. Shokubai says it commercialized the electrolyte in Japan in 2013.

BASF and Samsung will jointly study the feasibility of installing BASF’s OASE flue gas carbon-capture system on ships. The study will include engineering design and construction of a carbon-capture unit for a ship.

Nutrition Technologies has raised $20 million to expand production of its insect-based protein. The company feeds fermented food waste to black soldier flies, which can be turned into protein and oil for animal feed or fertilizer.

The Novo Nordisk Foundation has granted $200 millionto establish a quantum computer program for drug discovery and climate change research. The program was launched with the University of Copenhagen and includes researchers from Europe, the US, and Canada.

HTE, a developer of high-throughput technology, will supply Germany’s Research Center Jülich with one of its systems. It will help the center identify catalysts for electrocatalytic processes such as the one used to produce hydrogen.

Merck KGaA has licensed an oral drug candidate for cancer from Nerviano Medical Sciences for $65 million plus potential milestones and royalties. The small molecule is an inhibitor of poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase, an enzyme that helps repair damaged DNA.

Gevo broke ground Sept. 15 on its first commercial-scale sustainable aviation fuel ­facility, Net-Zero 1. In addition to a core alcohol-to-jet fuel plant, the project will include supporting wind power and green hydrogen equipment.

Syngenta will be the exclusive distributor of a microbial seed treatment for soybeans made by Bioceres Crop Solutions. The treatment increases nitrogen uptake and decreases the need for synthetic fertilizer.