Business Roundup

SI Group will close its antioxidant facility in Jinshan, China, and enter a supply agreement with Liaoning Dingjide Petrochemical, which makes additives and other specialty chemicals. Texas-based SI says it will put the Jinshan site up for sale.

BP has picked BASF’s amine-based carbon capture technology for its low-carbon hydrogen project in Teesside, England. BP expects the facility to be one of the largest low-carbon hydrogen plants in the UK.

USALCO plans to build a water treatment chemical facility in Fort Smith, Arkansas. The Baltimore-based firm produces polyaluminum chloride and other coagulants used to treat industrial and potable water.

Antora Energy has raised $150 million in series B funding to ramp up production of thermal batteries. The firm converts renewable energy into heat that it stores in blocks of solid carbon. The heat is converted back to electricity when needed.

WeedOUT has raised $8.1 million in a series A round. The Israeli firm will use the funds to develop sterile pollen that yields unviable seeds in weeds—a technique borrowed from insect control.

Syngenta is working with Lavie Bio to discover new biological insecticides. Israel-based Lavie uses artificial intelligence to predict the performance of potential insecticide candidates.

AbbVie will pay Tentarix Biotherapeutics $64 million as part of a pact to develop biologic drugs for oncology and immunology. Tentarix’s Tentacles technology creates multifunctional, antibody-based biologics.

PulseSight Therapeutics has launched to develop gene therapies delivered with an electrotransfection system rather than the standard adeno-associated viruses. The Paris-based firm is targeting wet and dry age-related macular diseases.