Wacker Chemie has symbolically broken ground for a new 23,000 m² silicones plant at its site at Karlovy Vary, Czechia. The investment volume “is in the low triple-digit million-euro range”, the company said. When fully operational, it will make around 20,000 tonnes/year. The facility will produce customised room-temperature-curing silicones for applications including electromobility, health and medical care, and electricity grid expansion when the first phase is complete at the end of 2025. High-consistency silicone will also be produced from 2028.

The European Commission has informed India’s Alchem International and its Hong Kong subsidiary of its preliminary view “that they have breached EU antitrust rules by participating in a long-lasting cartel concerning an important pharmaceutical product”. If the EC ultimately concludes that there is sufficient evidence of an infringement, it can impose a fine of up to 10% of the company's worldwide turnover.

Solenis, which makes speciality chemicals for water-intensive industries, has made two acquisitions in the space of three days: Lilleborg, a Norwegian firm that supplies professional cleaning products, and Aqua ChemPacs, a Pennsylvania-based maker of concentrated liquid chemical packs. Terms were not disclosed in either deal.

Solugen has secured a conditional commitment for a $213.6 million loan guarantee from the US Department of Energy (DOE) Loan Programmes Office. This will be used to support the construction of the company’s Bioforge Marshall facility in Marshall, Minnesota, on which it broke ground in April.

Graham Meller of Buttonwood Marketing shares some results from a recent trial of continuous metals monitoring technology

Elementis has announced some promising results from a trial of a new continuous metals monitoring technology at a river by its talc plant at Sotkamo in central Finland. The technology employs micro-discharge optical emission spectroscopy (µDOES*) from Finnish university spin-off Sensmet.

Swiss CDMO Siegfried has signed binding agreements with Curia Global for the acquisition of a drug substances site in Grafton, Wisconsin. The deal is expected to close by 1 July, subject to customary closing conditions. No financial details are being disclosed, other than that the acquisition is being financed from existing funds and will not change the company’s outlook for 2024 and mid-term financial targets.

Luxembourg-based OCSiAl has completed construction of a 3,000 tonnes/year facility for water-based single-wall carbon nanotube (SWCNT) dispersions in Serbia to support the manufacture of high-performance batteries. It is due to begin production in Q3.

Featuring cleanroom-operated production lines, this facility is an optimised version of the previous generation, with 15 times higher output. Much of the output is contracted with global electric vehicle producers and collaborations with the world’s largest lithium-ion battery cell manufacturers, the company said.