A groundbreaking ceremony has taken place at the biotechnology campus in Eddyville, Iowa, where Qore, a joint venture between Cargill and Helm will produce renewable 1,4-butanediol (BDO) using Genomatic’s Geno BDO process under licence. This is part of a $300 million investment at the site.

Croda has agreed to sell most of its Performance Technologies & Industrial Chemicals (PTIC) business to Cargill Velocity Holdings, a wholly owned subsidiary of Cargill in a €915 million deal should close in the summer of 2022, subject to regulatory approvals and consultation with employee representatives. The company had stated its intention to reviewing ownership options for PTIC in May 2021.

Agribusiness giant Cargill and German chemical marketing and distribution firm Helm have formed a joint venture called Qore and will invest $300 million to build the first commercial-scale, renewable 1,4-butanediol (BDO) facility in the US. This will be located at Cargill’s biotechnology campus and corn refining operation in Eddyville, Iowa, and should be in operation in 2024.

Agrifood giant Cargill is joining forces with two French companies to further develop and scale biobased acrylic acid based on a lactic acid technology it licensed in from Procter & Gamble earlier this year. This is claimed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in production by 50% compared with conventional means of production.