Brenntag has revealed that it is collaborating with Chicago-based Project44 to create a platform via which all of its global tracking data, regardless of where shipments are and what mode is being used, will be fed into a single data management system.

The project, Brenntag said, will enable it to “enhance supply chain visibility and multiple value streams such as customer track-and-trace, analytical products and cost-efficient end-to-end supply chain planning”. Project44’s platform tracks more than 1 billion shipments/year for over 1,200 global companies in multiple industries.

Lanxess and Evonik have separately signed power purchase agreements (PPAs) with energy companies Engie and EnBW respectively, under which they will increase the renewable share of their electricity needs in the coming years. The former’s PPA will see 1,400 GWh supplied to seven sites from 17 wind farms and four solar parks in Germany. Meanwhile the latter is taking an additional 50 MW from EnBW’s planned He Dreiht offshore wind farm in the North Sea over the next 15 years, in addition to 100 MW it signed to take last November.

Dow has outlined what it described as “a series of targeted actions aligned to its previously stated plan to achieve $1 billion in cost savings in 2023”. This is divided into $500 million each of ‘structural improvements’ and operating expense reductions. The measures include:

* About 2,000 job cuts to reduce labour and services costs

* Shutting down select assets, while further evaluating the asset base, particularly in Europe

* Increasing productivity via end-to-end process improvements

Cabot plans to invest about $75-90 million to add 15,000 tonnes/year of conductive carbon additives (CCA) capacity at its site in Pampa, Texas. This is part of planned investment programme in CCAs of about  $200 million in the US over the next five years that will use the grants, loans and tax incentives on offer from the federal government.

French greentech firm Afyren has signed a deal with Thailand’s Mitr Phol, the world’s third largest sugar producer, under which they will form a 70-30 joint venture to build a biorefinery at the latter’s site near Bangkok. This is Afyren’s first project outside France and follows on from a recent IPO.

OQ Chemicals has begun an optimisation and debottlenecking project for carboxylic acids at its plants in Germany. Structural work has already commenced, with completion planned before the end of the Q1. The acids are used as building blocks for lubricants, cosmetic ingredients and animal feed additives, among other things.

CordenPharma has signed a multi-year agreement for the contract manufacture of a large-volume launch peptide at its former Roche facility in Boulder, Colorado. This will begin in 2023 and will potentially be worth about $1 billion, depending on actual production levels required. The customer has not been named and no further details are being disclosed.