Business Roundup

Nouryon has doubled its office space to almost 1,000 m²—enough for at least 325 staff—as well as opened an innovation center in Mumbai. Activities at the innovation center will include the development of seed coating formulations, water-based paints, and construction materials.

Manus Bio has received $32.4 million from the US Department of Health and Human Services to increase the nation’s output of essential medicines. Manus says it will work with the flow chemistry firm ArtemiFlow USA to make biobased products including artemisinin, a starting material for the malaria treatment artesunate.

Cyclyx International plans to spend $135 million to build a plastic waste processing center near Fort Worth, Texas. The plant will convert about 140,000 metric tons of plastic waste into feedstocks that can be recycled mechanically and chemically.

YLB, Bolivia’s state-owned lithium firm, has negotiated deals worth $2 billion with Russian and Chinese firms to build lithium chemical plants. Bolivia has large lithium reserves, but companies have struggled to execute projects in the country.

Hexion has acquired Smartech, a provider of artificial intelligence–based software for manufacturing optimization, for an undisclosed sum. Hexion, which produces adhesive resins and other products, says the acquisition is its first in a decade.

Synata Bio says it will reach mechanical completion ahead of schedule for its carbon dioxide–derived ethanol plant at the Henan Energy Group’s chemical production site in China. The project, which will ferment 50,000 metric tons of ethanol from captured CO₂ and hydrogen, also received a $4.5 million grant from a Chinese state fund.

Teijin Group has invested in Circularise, a Dutch firm that uses blockchain to make supply chains more transparent. Teijin, a Japan-based carbon fiber maker, says it will work with Circularise to help reduce carbon emissions and increase recycling.

Relay Therapeutics has licensed lirafugratinib, a small molecule that inhibits fibroblast growth factor receptor 2 for certain solid-tumor cancers, to the HLB subsidiary Elevar Therapeutics for up to $500 million in royalty and milestone payments.