Seattle-based Sironix Renewables has announced the raising of $645,000 in seed funding from the University of Minnesota Discovery Capital Investment programme and ‘angel’ investors. Together with a $1.15 million grant from the US Department of Energy’s Advanced Manufacturing Office, this will be used to scale production of its Eosix technology.
In silico testing specialist Kreatis has undergone a buy-out by the management team after 12 years as a subsidiary company of the Cehtra group in France. It will continue to be headed by Paul Thomas, president and founder of the firm in 2014.
The UK government has extended the deadline for chemicals companies to register their products with the new ‘UK REACH’ system from up to two years to up to six, depending on tonnage and hazard. The new system will come into force on 1 January, following the Brexit transition period.
Merck KGaA is to spend €59 million to expand HPAPI and ADC manufacturing capabilities and capacity at its facility near Madison, Wisconsin. Completion is expected by mid-2022 and should add approximately 50 full-time jobs from 2021.
The investment will allow large-scale manufacturing of highly potent oncology compounds, the company said. The 6,500 m2 building will be one of the largest dedicated HPAPI facilities specifically designed to handle single-digit nanogram OEL materials.
As intimated in May, DuPont has sold a business making trichlorosilane (TCS), the primary raw material used in producing the ultra-pure polysilicon. This is based at Midland, Michigan, and was part of Dow before their merger. DuPont viewed it as no longer viewed as core. The price is said to be about $725 million.
Global chemical distributor IMCD has made two further acquisitions to expand its presence in South African distributor Siyeza Fine Chem and VitaQualy of Brazil. Terms were not disclosed in either case.
Johannesburg-based Sizeya was founded in is active in pharmaceutical, veterinary, food and personal care speciality chemical ingredients. It employs 27 people, who will remain with the firm and generated a revenue of €11.7 million in 2019. The deal will close at the end of 2020, subject to customary regulatory review.
Consumer products giant Unilever has announced plans to source all of the carbon-based materials in its cleaning and laundry products from renewable or recycled sources, thus throwing down the gauntlet to chemical suppliers. According to Unilever, this will cut the carbon footprint of its product formulations by up to 20%, since the chemicals it uses in cleaning and account for 46% – of that footprint. The company’s most famous brands include Persil, Omo, Domestos, Cif and Sunlight.
