Business Roundup

Enterprise Products Partners has started production at its new propane dehydrogenation plant in Mont Belvieu, Texas. With the output from an existing plant, the company now has 1.5 million metric tons per year of propylene capacity at the site.

Ineos has completed its acquisition of 50% of a major petrochemical complex that the Chinese firm Sinopec is building in Tianjin, China. The complex, which features a 1.2 million-metric-ton-per-year ethylene cracker, is due to be onstream by April 2024.

Apollo Funds, a private equity firm, has completed its $8.1 billion purchase of the chemical distributor Univar Solutions. Univar, which had been trading on the New York Stock Exchange, is now private.

BASF is expanding capacity for polyisobutenes by 25% at its site in Ludwigshafen, Germany. The products are used in protective films, window sealants, food packaging, and battery applications.

Mitsubishi Chemical Group is increasing production of γ-butyrolactone at a plant in Okayama Prefecture, Japan. The solvent is used in the rapidly growing semiconductor and lithium-ion battery industries.

Nexeon has agreed to supply battery maker Panasonic with a silicon-based anode material that increases the capacity of lithium-ion batteries. The companies hope to incorporate the material into electric car batteries by 2025.

Kemira CEO Jari Rosendal died July 31 after a short illness; he was 58. Kemira’s chief financial officer, Petri Castrén, will act as interim president and CEO until a permanent CEO is found.

Roquette will purchase Mitsubishi Chemical Group’s Qualicaps unit, a producer of hard-gelatin capsules and equipment for making oral drugs, for an undisclosed sum. Mitsubishi acquired Qualicaps for about $640 million in 2013.