The news is entirely dominated by the coronavirus pandemic. Here, we summaries some of the key developments in the fine and speciality chemicals industry so far in April

Multiple companies are turning spare capacity over or building new capacity to supply hand sanitiser. Leading the way is Ineos, which had already built three such plants in the UK, France and Germany and has now announced plans to build a fourth at Etian, France, to serve hospitals in Paris, north-eastern France and Belgium.

AGC has announced plans to expand its CDMO subsidiary, AGC Pharma Chemicals Europe. As well as adding 30% to the capacity of its production facilities by May 2022, this will see the addition of a new micronisation facility and a new R&D facility, which is due to begin operation in March 2021. The plant, near Barcelona, was originally known as Malgrat Pharma Chemicals.

Air Liquide has entered into exclusive negotiations with EQT, a differentiated global investment firm with over €62 billion in raise capital, for the sale of its Schülke & Mayr subsidiary. The company had announced its intention to sell Schülke & Mayr in November 2019 as part of a strategy of focusing on its core gases and healthcare businesses.

The first step in ongoing litigation in the US between Chemours and its parent firm DuPont over the cost of environmental liabilities relating to historic pollution caused by per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) went DuPont’s way on 2 April. Chemours has said that it will appeal to the Delaware Supreme Court.

Arkema has held a strategy update meeting, at which it presented “its ambition to become a world leader in speciality materials, realigned around three coherent businesses with attractive growth prospects”. By 2024, it aims to be a pure player in this field with “a resilient and focused portfolio, characterised by high profitability and strong cash generation”.

Kevin Hill of Quality Scales Unlimited offers some must-follow tips for accurate weighing of laboratory samples

It is easy to assume that using the right kind of analytical balance as per your weighing purpose is enough to weigh laboratory samples accurately. But what’s even more important is handling the balance and weighing samples with care.

Why? Analytical balances are often subject to reading errors if not handled properly. The reason is that they are extremely sensitive and their readings can easily be affected by small factors such as:

Chemical companies continue to invest in hand sanitiser in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. A large number of them are now producing in significant volumes.

Ineos, the largest European producer of the two key raw materials - isopropyl alcohol (IPA) and ethanol – has announced its intention to produce 1 million bottles of hand sanitiser/month from each of three newly built facilities in the UK, Germany and France.