Business Roundup

LyondellBasell Industries and EEW Energy from Waste will explore a partnership to extract and recycle plastics from thermal waste streams. The arrangement could include presorting facilities at existing EEW incineration plants.

SK Geo Centric plans to build an ethylene acrylic acid plant in Lianyungang, China. The plant will have 50,000 metric tons per year of capacity for the adhesive copolymer resin when it goes on line in 2028.

H.I.G. Capital, a private equity firm, has sold Elekeiroz, a Brazilian maker of plasticizers and oxo alcohols, to the Brazilian specialty chemical maker Oswaldo Cruz Química.

Kraton is expanding styrene-butadiene-styrene block copolymer capacity at its plant in Belpre, Ohio. The 24,000-metric-ton-per-year expansion will go on line in 2025.

Evonik Industries is set to increase production capacity for its activated nickel powder catalysts by 25% via expansions at plants in Hanau, Germany, and Dombivli, India. The company says the move is a response to growing demand for hydrogenation catalysts from the pharmaceutical, agrochemical, and sugar substitute industries.

Veranova has proposed closing its Annan, Scotland, pharmaceutical chemical plant, one of eight facilities it owns. According to Veranova, the decision will be based on a review of manufacturing capacity relative to customer needs and market trends.

Biohaven has obtained a global license, excluding the China region, for Hangzhou Highlightll Pharmaceutical’s dual inhibitor of tyrosine kinase 2 and janus kinase 1 enzymes for the treatment of brain disorders. The US company expects to enter the compound into Phase 1 clinical trials this year.

Roche and Eli Lilly and Company will collaborate to develop a blood test that can help diagnose Alzheimer’s disease early. The test measures levels of phosphorylated tau 181 protein and apolipoprotein E in plasma.