Business Roundup

Altana has acquired Solvay’s formulated resins business, a maker of epoxy and urethane products with annual sales of about $20 million. The deal includes production and research facilities in Olean, N.Y.

Linde will soon break ground on a $40 million air separation unit in Adel, Ga. The plant, which will supply atmospheric gases to hospitals and industrial customers, will open in 2019.

Albemarle has received Chilean government approval to expand the capacity of its lithium salts plant in Antofagasta, Chile, to more than 80,000 metric tons per year. Separately, the company has completed its purchase of the lithium business of China’s Jiangli New Materials for $145 million.

DuPont Industrial Biosciences has received a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to research new production systems for antibodies and other protein-based medicines. DuPont seeks to use its industrial protein manufacturing skills to lower the cost of biologic drugs.

Formosa Mitsui Advanced Chemicals, a joint venture of Formosa Plastics and Mitsui Chemicals, will add 2,000 metric tons per year of capacity for lithium-ion battery electrolyte solutions at its plant in Ningbo, China. The move will more than double the plant’s size.

Monsanto has licensed CRISPR/Cpf1 genome-editing technology for agriculture from the Broad Institute of MIT & Harvard. The company says the technology is a simpler and more precise tool than the older CRISPR/Cas9 system.

MilliporeSigma has acquired BioControl Systems, a Bellevue, Wash.-based maker of food safety test kits with annual sales of $34 million and 100 employees. MilliporeSigma already supplies microbial quality control products to pharmaceutical customers.

Ascletis has raised $100 million in series B funding from investors including Goldman Sachs and Tasly Pharmaceutical. Ascletis aims to be the first Chinese firm to launch a new drug in China that treats chronic hepatitis C.