Business Roundup

Maire Tecnimont will furnish technology for an 83,000-metric-ton-per-year green ammonia plant to be built in the midwestern US. The developer of the project, Greenfield Nitrogen, aims to build a series of such plants, which will use renewable energy to make hydrogen feedstock.

Danimer Scientific and Chevron Phillips Chemical will work to make the biodegradable resin poly(3-hydroxypropionate) in CP Chem’s slurry loop reactors, typically used for polyethylene. Danimer recently bought Novomer, which has technology to make the polymer from carbon monoxide and ethylene oxide.

Polypore International has formed a joint venture with Shanghai Energy New Materials Technology to produce polypropylene separator films for lithium-ion batteries. Polypore expects the venture to open a plant in China in 2022.

Gevo has acquired patents from Butamax Advanced Biofuels related to making octane, other chemicals, and fuels from isobutanol. Gevo previously had a cross-license agreement to use the patents.

Givaudan will join a Swiss technology accelerator for cultured meat along with the food-processing equipment maker Bühler and the grocery retailer Migros. The Cultured Food Innovation Hub will offer product development, cell culture, and fermentation services to companies looking to create cell-based meat products.

Asymchem has agreed to provide small-molecule and biologics research and manufacturing services to LaNova Medicines, a Shanghai-based cancer drug developer. Asymchem recently opened a biologics services facility in Shanghai.

Hexagon Bio, one of C&EN’s 10 Start-Ups to Watch in 2018, has raised $61 million to advance its preclinical pipeline of drugs based on compounds made by microbes. Its initial focus is on cancer and infectious diseases.

AstraZeneca will acquire Caelum Biosciences for $150 million, getting a monoclonal antibody that is in Phase 3 clinical trials for treating light chain amyloidosis, a rare blood disease. Caelum’s investors could earn up to $350 million in milestone payments.