Business Roundup

Mitsui & Co. (U.S.A.) and Petron Scientech are studying the construction of a biobased-ethylene plant in the US Southeast. The facility would use Petron technology and serve customers seeking low-carbon-footprint raw materials.

Solid Power has licensed its solid-state battery cell designs to BMW as part of a joint development agreement. The carmaker plans to produce prototype battery cells at a pilot factory in Germany.

Clariant will invest roughly $86 million to expand its ethoxylation capacity in Daya Bay, China. The firm’s plant there produces ingredients for pharmaceuticals as well as for cleaning and personal care products.

Freepoint Eco-Systems has broken ground on a plant in Hebron, Ohio, that will use pyrolysis to break down up to 90,000 metric tons of plastic waste per year into petrochemical feedstocks. The firm will sell the output from the plant, expected to start up in 2024, to Shell.

Oxyle, a Swiss start-up working on water treatment technologies, has raised $3 million in seed funding. The company uses catalysts to oxidize and destroy pollutants like drugs, pesticides, and industrial chemicals.

FMC has picked Seva Rostovtsev, its director of discovery chemistry, to be the company’s new chief technology officer. He replaces Kathleen Shelton, who is retiring after a 30-year career with FMC and DuPont.

Bachem says it has received a peptide order worth at least $1 billion for 2025 through 2029. The Swiss peptide maker is in the midst of a $1 billion-plus expansion program to meet growing demand for drug peptides.

AbbVie will work with HotSpot Therapeutics to develop a small-molecule inhibitor of the transcription factor protein IRF5 for treating autoimmune diseases. HotSpot will receive $40 million up front and potentially $295 million or more in option fees, milestones, and royalties.