Business Roundup

Arsenal Capital Partners, a private equity firm, has purchased a majority stake in Polycorp for an undisclosed amount. Polycorp, based in Elora, Ontario, makes rubber and polyurethane products and has 250 employees.

Kraton has completed a $35 million upgrade of the crude tall oil biorefinery towers at its plant in Panama City, Florida. Tall oil is a by-product of paper pulping and is the raw material for many biobased chemicals.

Venator says that following its emergence from bankruptcy, it will close 130,000 metric tons (t) of titanium dioxide capacity in Europe. As part of this program, it will shut down its plant in Duisburg, Germany, which has 50,000 t of production, during the second quarter of this year.

Enerkem is retiring a demonstration plant in Edmonton, Alberta, that converted household waste into ethanol and methanol. The company says it will now try to commercialize the technology at larger scale.

Lyten will receive a $4 million grant from the US Department of Energy to start manufacturing lithium-sulfur batteries. The company says the raw materials for the high-capacity batteries will be easier to source than those for typical lithium-ion batteries.

Nova Molecular Technologies will spend about $24 million to expand solvent recovery capacity at its site in Columbia, South Carolina. The firm distills and recycles spent solvents from customers.

Prime Medicine, a biotechnology firm focused on prime editing, has received $15 million from the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. The company describes prime editing as a “word processor” for DNA that has the potential to fix mutations on theCFTR gene that cause cystic fibrosis.

Enterprise Therapeutics has raised about $33 million for a cystic fibrosis drug in Phase 2 clinical trials to test whether targeting epithelial sodium channels in the lining of airways will successfully hydrate and clear away mucus. Panakes Partners led the round, which was joined by Versant Ventures, the venture arm of Novartis, and other investors.