Arcadium Lithium, the company formed by the merger of Livent and Allkem at the start of the year, has acquired the lithium metal business of Li-Metal for $11 million. This includes a pilot production facility in Ontario. Li-Metal founder and CTO Maciej Jastrzebski has entered into a consulting agreement to facilitate the transfer of technology and integrate the team.
Catena-X and industry body Together for Sustainability (TfS) have launched PCF Verification Framework, an initiative to enhance the credibility and effectiveness of product carbon footprint (PCF) data across the automotive and chemical supply chains. This follows long-term collaboration between the two.
Researchers at the University of Bath have published a report in Chemical Engineering Journal about a method that removes at least 75% of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) from water using ceramic-infused lattices (or ‘monoliths’). PFOA is one of the two commonest perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). These are under increasing scrutiny as ‘forever chemicals’ that take hundreds of years to degrade and are linked to health issues like harm to reproductive, developmental and cardiovascular systems.
Clariant has agreed a deal to source ethylene with a lower carbon footprint from Austrian petrochemicals firm OMV. This, the company said, comes in response to increasing consumer demand for more sustainable options and will help both it and OMV to meet their sustainability targets.
Clariant has been offering segregated biobased ethoxylates through its Indian operation since 2022. It now wishes to extend this to the wider ethylene oxide derivatives portfolio while also strengthening the supply chain by producing “in Europe, for Europe”.
Barentz International has acquired Anshul Life Sciences, an Indian speciality chemicals distributor to the pharmaceuticals, personal care and other markets. Terms were not disclosed. CEO Nagarajan Kailasam and the rest of the Anshul team will continue to manage the day-to-day business operations.
BASF, the Austrian Research Centre of Industrial Biotechnology (ACIB) and the University of Graz in Austria have co-developed a computer-assisted regression model to improve enzyme performance and enable biocatalytic processes to be scaled up faster. With this model, they said, “it becomes easier to determine the optimal combination as only a few preliminary lab tests, such as determining the unfolding curve of the enzyme, are necessary”.
Agilent Technologies, a major player in analytical and clinical laboratory services, has agreed to acquire Canadian biotech and pharmaceutical CDMO Biovectra from HIG Capital in a $925 million deal that is expected to close before 2025. This covers all Biovectra’s employees and sites in Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia.
“The acquisition expand Agilent’s end-to-end biopharma solutions with Biovectra’s biologics capabilities to accelerate drug development and manufacturing,” the two companies stated. Industry rumour had previously linked Biovectra with Thermo Fisher.
