Business Roundup

LyondellBasell Industries has acquired recycling assets in Jurupa Valley, California, from PreZero. Lyondell plans to start operations at the plant, which has recycling capacity of about 20,000 metric tons per year, in 2025.

NuMat Technologies will build a second commercial-scale manufacturing facility for metal-organic frameworks, this one in Wisconsin, after building its first in Chicago. The plant’s output will be focused on applications in decarbonization, defense, and emergency response.

Air Liquide will spend $54 million to build a plant in Singapore and upgrade its plant in New York. Both sites supply gases to the semiconductor maker GlobalFoundries.

Ono Pharmaceutical has agreed to use the artificial intelligence and machine learning platforms of Connecticut-based InveniAI to discover and validate therapeutic targets. InveniAI will discover the targets, while the Japan-based firm will retain exclusive rights to develop and commercialize drug candidates generated through the partnership.

Bayer has agreed to buy the radioisotope actinium-225 from PanTera, the Belgian joint venture that resulted from a collaboration between the technology specialist IBA and the Belgian government’s nuclear research center, SCK CEN. Bayer needs²²⁵ Ac, a rare, α-emitting isotope, to develop radiopharmaceuticals for cancer.

Ascend Elements has raised $162 million to fund construction of a Kentucky facility that will recycle old batteries into cathode materials. The company has raised more than $700 million over the past 12 months.

Niron Magnetics has raised $25 million to increase production of magnets that don’t contain rare earth elements for electric vehicle motors. The company says the funding will allow customers to start testing the magnets.

DexMat has received a $1.5 million grant from the US Department of Energy to work with Rice University on improving the performance of carbon nanotube fibers. The company hopes that its carbon nanotubes will be a lighter and more sustainable alternative to steel, aluminum, and copper in industrial applications.