Kemira has started full-scale production of its newly developed polyacrylamide polymer based on biobased feedstock. The first commercial volumes are shipped to one of the wastewater treatment plants of the Helsinki Region Environmental Services for trials.

The polymer is water-soluble and offers the same technical specifications as its conventional equivalent, the company stated. As well as water treatment and other water-intensive sectors, it can be used in the energy industry, and potentially also in particularly demanding papermaking applications.

Packaging giant Cascades has chosen Kemira as the primary chemical supplier for the Bear Island mill in Virginia, which it is converting to produce lightweight 100% recycled linerboard and medium grades. This is due to be completed by the end of 2022 and to have 465,00 tonnes/year of capacity when in full operation.

As rumoured last month, BASF and private equity investor Clayton, Dubilier & Rice (CD&R) have exited their joint ownership of paper and water treatment chemicals company Solenis, by selling it to Platinum Equity. Solenis will be merged with Platinum’s existing subsidiary Sigura, creating a player in water treatment with $3.5 billion/year in sales.

Kemira has announced two further investments at Yanzhou, China. A new sodium hypochlorite production unit is now being built, while the pre-engineering phase is now being finalised to increase polyaluminium chloride (PAC) production. These should be operational in January and March 2022 respectively.

Finland’s Kemira has announced the completion of the first of a two-step capacity expansion in its water treatment chemicals production in the UK. The output of the aluminium-based product line in Ellesmere Port, near Liverpool, will be increased by more than 30,000 tonnes/year.

A second investment at Goole is currently under way and by September the firm expects to raise production of ferric-based water treatment chemicals by 100,000 tonnes/year. In all, Kemira makes over 350,000 tonnes/year of water treatment chemicals at these and two other UK sites at Bradford and Teesport. 

Japan’s DIC Corporation and its Sun Chemical subsidiary have agreed a strategic partnership with DuPont for degassing modules for water treatment. The aim is to double sales of these modules in industrial water treatment from the 2019 fiscal year to 2021. D

IC noted that its customers already often use its degassing modules in combination with DuPont water purification and separation products and technologies, such as ultrafiltration, reverse osmosis and ion exchange resins. This will further expand its service offer, the company said.

Lanxess has announced that it is focusing its water treatment technologies business on the ion exchange (IX) resins business and will build a new plant. As a result, it is selling its reverse osmosis (RO) membranes business to Suez of France, on undisclosed terms. This should be concluded within 2020.