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Olon opens R&D centre

Italian CDMO Olon has opened its new R&D centre at its industrial plant and headquarters in Rodano, near Milan. This will be mainly dedicated to the development of APIs for the innovator and generic markets. It cost €10 million and will create 50 new jobs, bringing the total to 350 out of the 2,300 total.

Origin Materials to cut back

‘Carbon negative’ materials company Origin Materials has announced an organisational realignment. With immediate effect, the California-based firm has cut the workforce by about 30%. It will will incur about $500,000 in severance costs and about $2.2 million “for the accelerated vesting of certain equity awards”.

Evonik plans ultra-pure colloidal silica plant

Evonik has revealed that it is building a $7.9 million plant to produce ultra-high purity colloidal silica at its site in Weston, Michigan. Due onstream in 2024, this will be the first of its kind in North America. The investment was supported by a $900,000 performance-based grant under the Michigan Business Development Programme.

Valsynthese in Grignards collaboration

Swiss fine chemical manufacturer Valsynthese has entered into a manufacturing services agreement, under which it will host Grignard reagents production units based on the proprietary MgFlow Technology of Belgium’s Chemium and offer integrated services based on it. Chemium will commercialise ready-to-use Grignards through its Swiss subsidiary.

Feature article - HSE in the chemical industry: Simple, comprehensive & perfectly integrated

Chris van den Belt, product management team leader at IFS Ultimo, shows how health, safety and environmental management can be integrated into an EAM system

The management of tasks related to health protection, occupational safety and environmental management (HSE) is extremely important but also enormously complex. In the oil, gas, petrochemical and general chemical industries, many substances are stored and processed that can be explosive, flammable, toxic, harmful to the environment or otherwise hazardous.

Evonik targets €1 billion+ in circular economy sales

Evonik has revealed that it aims to generate at least €1 billion/year in additional sales a year from circular products and technologies, both in its own processes and support its customers in the transition to circular applications. The company’s strategy in this arena is based on multiple initiatives in which it claims that it is already contributing to the circular economy, notably:

* Further strengthening its activities in additives and specialities for the circular economy

* Making greater use of raw materials based on recycled materials, biomass and CO2

Biobased 5-HMF advance

IFP Energies Nouvelles (IFPEN) and ResiCare, a Michelin Group operation, have co-developed a process for producing the platform molecule 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (5-HMF) from plant-based fructose using homogeneous catalysis. This follows ten years of laboratory research and joint industrial-scale work since the end of 2021.

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