Business Roundup

ExxonMobil has awarded the design and engineering contract to Kent for new plants based on ExxonMobil’s pyrolysis plastics recycling technology. The companies are looking to build plants using the technology in Texas, Louisiana, Illinois, Ontario, the Netherlands, and Belgium.

Engie and the steel producer Posco are planning a facility in Duqm, Oman, that will make 1.2 million metric tons per year of ammonia from renewable power. The companies hope to begin commercial operation by 2030.

PPG Industries has appointed Alisha Bellezza vice president of automotive coatings. She was formerly Chemours’s president of thermal and specialized solutions.

Origin Materials has started up the world’s first commercial plant for chloromethyl furfural (CMF) in Sarnia, Ontario. Made from nonfood biomass, CMF can be used to produce polyethylene terephthalate and other plastics.

Mitsui & Co. will pay $473 million as part of its previously announced acquisition of 70% of Celanese’s food ingredient business, which produces the artificial sweetener acesulfame potassium. The companies are forming a joint venture, called Nutrinova, in which Celanese will take a 30% stake.

Indorama has launched a line of biosurfactants for the home and personal care market. The firm says its Surfonic Bio ingredients can act as primary or cosurfactants and have a lower carbon footprint than conventional surfactants.

Thermo Fisher Scientific has acquired the Raman spectroscopy specialist MarqMetrix. Financial details were not disclosed, but the firms say all 30 US employees will move to Thermo Fisher.

Lubrizol has agreed to license its Apisolex polymer technology to Welton Pharma. Welton will use the excipient in a novel formulation of SN-38, which is currently in development for treating colorectal and associated gastrointestinal cancers.