Evonik has completed the expansion of DL-methionine production at Singapore’s Jurong Island, bringing the total capacity to 340,000 tonnes/year. Following shutdowns in Q4 2023 and Q2 2024, the facilities are now running at full capacity. The methionine is used in animal feed.

Kemira has announced changes to its operating model with the aim of increasing customer-centricity, strategic focus, speed of delivery, and accelerating growth. This will take effect from 1 January 2025. The composition of the management board will change add three externally reported business units, created, each headed by an EVP:

* Water Solutions (Tuija Pohjolainen-Hiltunen)

* Packaging & Hygiene Solutions (Harri Eronen)

* Fibre Essentials (Antti Matula)

International Chemical Investors Group (ICIG) has agreed to buy Clariant’s decommissioned bioethanol plant in Podari, Romania, for its biotech CDMO subsidiary Corden BioChem. No financial details were disclosed, but ICIG will rehire “a large proportion” of the laid-off employees and spend a double-digit million Euro sum, mainly in downstream operations, to make the site a flexible CMO.

Chemours has opened Chemours Battery Innovation Centre (CBIC) at the Chemours Discovery Hub in Newark, Delaware. CBIC will support the testing and scaling of next-generation lithium-ion battery technologies to produce batteries for hybrid and electric vehicles. The investment was said to be of multi-million dollars.

Barentz International has acquired distributors in two different regions in short order. The acquisition of Insuqui in Paraguay followed a few weeks after that of the Anshul Life Sciences Group in India. Terms were not disclosed in either deal and the existing management teams will remain in place.

The CDMO operation was not the main attraction when Arxada was formed but has turned out to be one of the most promising. Andrew Warmington met Olivier Lambrechts, president of the NCE business

When a company is newly formed, it can take time for the owners and managers to work out exactly what they have – and which part will be the most valuable. Arxada is a case in point.

Luxembourg-based carbon black giant Orion has made a Form 8-K filing with the US Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) stating that it expects to record a one-time pre-tax charge of about $60 million. This is apparently the result of a wire fraud scheme, though this was not explicitly spelled out.