Evonik has entered into a technological cooperation agreement with the AgTech Garage innovation centre in the Piracicaba Technology Park in Sao Paulo, Brazil. This came shortly after the company opened its new ‘Agro Hub’ at Americana in the same start AgTech Garage is described as an innovation hub that seeks to connect start-ups, producers, investors, academics, scientists and others in the development of sustainable agribusiness.

James Robinson Speciality Ingredients (JRSI) has opened a 370 m2 office and warehouse space at the site in Huddersfield, UK, where its predecessor was originally founded in 1840. This will house the administration team, working across sales and marketing, finance, customer service and logistics.

Unilever and Genomatica have launched a $120 million venture to scale up and commercialise plant-based alternatives to palm oil and fossil fuel-derived cleansing ingredients, particularly for use in personal care products. This will use Genomatica’s established biotechnology platform that makes materials from plant- or waste-based product.

Private equity firm Aterian Investment Partners has acquired EverZinc and will combine it with existing affiliate US Zinc to make the world’s largest maker of zinc chemical products. This will be based in Houston and will operate under the EverZinc name, with EverZinc CEO Vincent Dujardin becoming CEO and US Zinc president and CEO Joel Hawthorne as vice chairman.

DSM and Swiss-based flavours and fragrances house Firmenich have agreed to merge. The deal, which is expected to close in 1H 2023, is valued at about $19.6 billion. DSM-Firmenich would have about €11.4 billion/year in sales, comparable to IFF after its combination with DuPont’s Nutrition and Biosciences business early last year.

Bryan Moran, global skin care technical manager at Lubrizol Life Science Beauty, discusses how formulators can address a key trend in sun care

In the 1970s and 1980s, no lifeguard would hit the beach without a thick white coating of zinc oxide sunblock on their nose. It was effective but also unattractive and uncomfortable.

Dow has announced plans to expand its alkoxylation capacity in the US and Europe in 2024 and 2025. The investments are backed by supply agreements with customers and are being made to meet 10-15%/year growth in end markets including home and personal care, industrial and institutional cleaning, pharmaceuticals and crop protection.