Following discussions with various parties about a sale of its Battery Materials business, Johnson Matthey (JM) has announced that it has not been able to reach an agreement to sell the business as a going concern. It is therefore beginning consultation with employees about proposed closure of the business and pursuing the sale of its individual assets.

Oslo-based biotech Circa Group has signed an agreement with French energy producer GazelEnergie. Under this, it will repurpose the former Emile Huchet coal-fired power station site, adjacent to the Carling Saint-Avold platform in north-eastern France, to make its Cyrene brand of renewable solvent at commercial scale.

Thomas Swan & Co. has completed a joint venture transaction in large-scale graphene production with Canadian-based graphite firm Mason Graphite. Black Swan Graphene (BSG) will be based in Québec, Canada, and will seek to penetrate industrial markets with low-cost graphene. CEO Harry Swan and Michael Edwards, business director for the Advanced Materials division, will join the BSG board.

Shareholders approved the merger, first announced in February, between Origin Materials and special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Artius Acquisition on 24 June. As a result, Origin shares are now listed on the Nasdaq. Eight days before this, Apollo Global Management had agreed to invest up to $30 million in Artius in support of the combination and a further 3 million shares on closing of the transaction.

Johnson Matthey, Thomas Swan and the UK’s Centre for Process Innovation (CPI) have teamed up in the ICE-Batt project. This seeks how to optimise battery technology by using innovative forms of carbon to overcome some of the limitations of lithium-ion batteries, including energy density, power density and low temperature performance.

Norwegian company Elkem has commissioned its pilot-scale battery materials plant at Kristiansand and begun qualification processes with several battery cell producers. It has already formed a memorandum of understanding for the supply of battery materials with Freyr.

Clariant Refinery Services officially opened a new crude and fuel oil laboratory at Bradford, UK, on 23 January. This division makes pour point depressants (PPDs) for the transportation and storage of crude oil, diesel and marine fuels; and cold-flow additive applications for middle-distillates, including diesel, home heating oil and biofuels.