Clariant has announced the official completion of its first commercial-scale Sunliquid plant in Podari, Romania. This will be operational during Q4 and will produce about 50,000 tonnes/year of “almost carbon-neutral” cellulosic ethanol from 250,000 tonnes/year of agricultural residues sourced in the vicinity.
Silicon materials player Elkem has announced a new climate roadmap, detailing how it plans to develop its business in line with the aim of the Paris agreement of limiting global warming to well below 2°C, while also achieving revenue growth of 5-10%/year.
Verdant Specialty Solutions has acquired its US compatriot Baze Chemical from its founder, Curtis Baze. Terms were not disclosed. Baze is based at Odessa, Texas, employs 82 employees and mainly supplies ethoxylates for the oil and gas production, water treatment and mining industries.
Baze’s four facilities on the Gulf Coast include a 12,000 m2 surfactants manufacturing and custom alkoxylation facility in Palestine, Texas, which opened in 2016. This has six flexible reactors for EO and PO, abundant storage and significant capacity for growth, Verdant said.
Evonik has announced that it intends to divest its site in Lülsdorf, south of Cologne in Germany, and will draw up more detailed plans by spring 2022. The company would prefer an outright transfer to a single owner but will consider selling it in parts.
Christian Kullmann, chairman of the executive board, said: “With our focus on high-margin speciality chemicals, further development of the site doesn’t make sense for us”. Some potential investors have already expressed interest.
A key deadline for UK REACH is coming this month. Andrew Warmington reports from ChemUK 2021
Not surprisingly, UK REACH was one of the big topics at the panel discussions and individual presentations given at the ChemUK show, which took place at the NEC near Birmingham on 15-16 September. UK REACH came into force on 1 January, the day after the UK left the EU.
Verdimine, a US-based specialist in green chemistry, has revealed that it has developed an aqueous-based manufacturing process for the synthesis of imines, aryl aldimines, oximes and related compounds using a renewable and biodegradable solvent that the FDA has approved for use as a food additive. Synthetics USA, a US-based fine chemical marketing firm, will be its business development representative in the North American marketplace.
Vertellus has signed a definitive agreement to acquire the potassium chloride, caustic pellets and vaccine adjuvant businesses of diversified US chemical firm Chemtrade. Terms were not disclosed. The transaction is expected to close during Q4, subject to regulatory approval and customary closing conditions.
