Business Roundup

Chemours chief financial officer Jonathan S. Lock has resigned from the company. Lock, along with then CEO Mark Newman and another executive, had been placed on leave from the company in February, pending an investigation into improper financial reporting.

LyondellBasell Industries has secured a location in Knapsack, Germany, to build an integrated plastics recycling hub. The facility, set for completion in 2026, will sort waste plastics for use as feedstock for both mechanical and chemical recycling.

MFG Chemical has acquired Puslinch, Ontario–based HP Polymers. HP makes resins and polymers for paint and coatings that go into metal, wood, marine, and specialty applications.

Chemix has raised $20 million to scale up a process that uses artificial intelligence to search for higher-performing and less expensive battery materials. The company has gathered data from millions of battery charge cycles to train its AI program.

Neo Performance Materials will buy 3,000 metric tons of rare earth oxides per year from Meteoric Resources’ mine in Brazil. Neo plans to use the material to make powerful magnets at a facility it’s building in Estonia.

Topsoe will build a sustainable aviation fuel plant for Guangxi Free Trade Zone Hongkun Biomass Fuel at an existing industrial site in southeastern China. The firms expect the facility to convert 300,000 metric tons of fats, oils, and grease per year when it opens in early 2026.

Calgon Carbon is negotiating the sale of its European diatomite and perlite business to the French mineral firm Imerys. The business, part of Calgon’s Chemviron subsidiary with operations in France and Italy, had sales last year of about $54 million.

Merichem Technologies has acquired Chemical Products Industries, a maker of adsorbents for sulfur removal. Houston-based Merichem says the purchase advances its goal of being a leading provider of chemicals and catalysts for treating sulfur.