Business Roundup

BASF will spend “double-digit” millions of euros to expand chelating agents capacity in Ludwigshafen, Germany. The firm says demand is growing for chelating agents such as its Trilon M methylglycinediacetic acid, which replaces phosphates in cleaning products.

AkzoNobel has broken ground on a plant in Sweden to demonstrate new technology for producing ethyleneamines and derivatives—including those for curing epoxy resins—from ethylene oxide. The firm says it has already started to explore options for a world-scale facility.

Gabriel Performance Products will spend $2 million to expand capacity for polymercaptan epoxy curing agents at its facility in Ashtabula, Ohio. To be completed by year-end, the two-stage project will boost capacity by more than 30%.

PQ will manufacture a catalyst developed by Velocys that makes fuels from materials such as biomass and municipal solid waste. Velocys says its technology is already in use at the Envia gas-to-liquids plant in Oklahoma City.

Bedoukian Research has debuted an aroma chemical produced in collaboration with the start-up P2 Science. Called Hydrofleur, the muguet-note chemical will be made in a plant P2 is building in Naugatuck, Conn.

Deinove, a French start-up, has raised about $10 million from investors to further develop strains of deinococcus bacteria that generate antibiotics. Deinove is targeting compounds that are capable of overcoming antimicrobial resistance.

Enamine of Ukraine and TBD Biodiscovery of Estonia will collaborate on the production of pharmaceutical intermediates. Under the agreement, Enamine will optimize synthesis processes and TBD will develop manufacturing processes.

DuPont Health & Nutrition has formed a microbiome-related R&D pact with the French National Institute for Agricultural Research. DuPont earlier formed similar pacts with institutes in Ireland and Estonia.