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Albemarle opens La Negra

17th June 2022

Submitted by:

Andrew Warmington

Albemarle has officially inaugurated La Negra III/IV, its third chemical conversion plant, 27 km from the city of Antofagasta in Chile. The firm claims that this is the most modern plant of its kind in Latin America and that it will help to double lithium production and reduce freshwater consumption by up to 30% per tonne of production.

La Negra III/ represents an investment of more than $500 million and has R&D laboratories and facilities for the complex chemical processes needed to remove impurities and transform lithium concentrate into high value-added products. It includes a $100 million thermal evaporator designed to recover the water from the mother liquor and recycle it in the production process of technical- and battery-grade lithium carbonate.

UPL to split out specialities

Indian agrochemicals giant UPL has announced plans to transfer its speciality chemicals business, including agrochemical

Submitted by:

Andrew Warmington

AI for SAPs

Together with Algo Artis, Japan’s Nippon Shokubai has developed an algorithm-based means for the production

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Andrew Warmington

Nippon Shokubai's API Facility in Japan

Nucleic acid API boost

Nippon Shokubai is to expand its GMP capacity for nucleic APIs tenfold It will install

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Andrew Warmington

Flamma's facility in Dalian

Flamma opens in China

Italian CDMO Flamma Group has officially opened its new cGMP plant at Dalian, China, where

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Andrew Warmington

GL Chemtec has opened a new kilo lab

GL Chemtec completes kilo lab

CDMO GL Chemtec has announced the completion of a cGMP kilo lab at Oakville, Ontario

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Andrew Warmington

Sterling's facility at Deeside, UK

CDMOs in ADC investments

Five CDMOs across the world have separately announced investments in antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs). Piramal Pharma is

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Andrew Warmington

Afyren Neoxy plant

Milestones for two greentech firms

Afyren has achieved continuous production at its Afyren Neoxy plant at Clermont-Ferrand (pictured)

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Andrew Warmington

Origin by Ocean derives its materials from sargassum

CABB in algae biorefinery deal

CABB has agreed a strategic partnership to establish a first-in-kind algae biorefinery at its site at Kokkola

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Andrew Warmington

First waste-based biosurfactants

Belgian start-up AmphiStar has launched what it claims are the first fully upcycled biobased surfactants

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Andrew Warmington

Aether to supply Seqens

Indian firm Aether Industries has entered into a manufacturing agreement with Chemoxy International, a UK-based

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Andrew Warmington

New model for biocatalysts

BASF, the Austrian Research Centre of Industrial Biotechnology (ACIB) and the University of Graz in

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Andrew Warmington

CBE JU funds 31 more projects

The Circular Bio-based Europe Joint Undertaking (CBE JU), a €2 billion partnership between the EU

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Andrew Warmington

Ribbon cutting ceremony at Lubrizol's new office

Lubrizol opens London office

Lubrizol has opened a new office in Hammersmith, London. This will be home to a

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Andrew Warmington

Sudarshan to buy Heubach

India’s Sudarshan Chemical Industries (SCIL) has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the Heubach

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Andrew Warmington

Alliance in natural fragrances

Sensegen, a US-based specialist in biotech-enabled fragrances, notably a new class of natural musk raw

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Andrew Warmington

Croda breaks ground in China

Croda International has broken ground for a low-carbon, multi-purpose production facility on a greenfield site

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Andrew Warmington

CCT collaboration for Givaudan

Flavours and fragrances giant Givaudan has agreed a research collaboration for the development of sustainable

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Andrew Warmington

REACH Authorisation

Candidate List ‘reaches’ 250

The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) has added three more substances to the Candidate List of

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Andrew Warmington

Staff at Brenntag's newly acquired Czech site

CO2-free distribution site first

Brenntag has officially inaugurated what it claims to be the first CO2-emission-free chemical distribution site

Submitted by:

Andrew Warmington