Page 167 - CW E-Magazine (3-6-2025)

News from Abroad

SPECIALITY POLYMERS

Sumitomo Seika Chemicals sets up SAP pilot plant;

stops powder resin production at Chiba unit

Japan’s Sumitomo Seika Chemicals tion of new technologies from
has announced the completion of its development research to indus-
dedicated pilot plant for super absorbent trialisation research.
polymers (SAPs) at its Himeji Works in
Himeji City, Hyogo Prefecture. In another development,
Sumitomo Seika Chemicals
In the SAP business, the company announced the termination of
is developing new products focused on manufacture and sale of polyethy-
value addition and environment & safety, lene and polypropylene powder
as well as streamlining its operations to resin products manufactured at
further enhance its competitiveness. sophistication in the future, it features a its Chiba Works by March 2027. “The
highly expandable and fl exible design business environment for products to be
This pilot plant is designed as a to accommodate more severe operating discontinued has become increasingly
scaled-down model of its actual manu- conditions such as high temperatures challenging, due to sluggish market
facturing plant, enabling medium-scale and high pressures. conditions, rising raw material prices,
experiments under conditions similar to and other factors,” the company said. The
actual manufacturing environments. In The company aims to accelerate company will cease accepting orders in
addition, with a view to innovations in commercialisation by fully leveraging September 2025, and sales are scheduled
production technologies and operational this facility to ensure a smooth transi- to be discontinued in March 2027.

Waters expands biological analysis portfolio

with Halo Labs acquisition

American analytical technolo- “Adding the innova-
gies major, Waters Corporation, has tive low-sample-volume,
acquired Halo Labs, an innovator of high-throughput technology
specialised imaging technologies to detect, from Halo Labs provides
identify, and count interfering materials analysis for a broad range of
(particles) in therapeutic products, such sample types and volumes,
as cell, protein, and gene therapies. enabling earlier insights dur-
ing therapy development and
The Aura platform from Halo Labs greater safety during manu-
features a differentiated technology that facturing,” said Dr. Udit
performs full spectrum particle analy- Batra, President and CEO,
sis and is complementary to the Waters Waters Corporation. “With the
light scattering detection solutions from rapid growth of treatments
its ‘Wyatt Technology’ portfolio. “For like CAR T-cell therapies,
example, its subvisible particle techno- said in a press note. Waters said it will we are investing in the innovation our
logy unlocks additional insights when integrate this emerging technology into customers need. Together with our
characterising external particles used new and existing large molecule deve- existing Wyatt Technology product lines,
to amplify CAR T-cells for cell therapy, lopment and QA/QC, accelerating the this acquisition enhances our leader-
detecting these translucent process company’s growth into analytical and ship position in specialised analytical
impurities that are currently undetecta- bioprocessing testing for large mole- technologies for emerging biopharma
ble by standard methods,” the company cule therapies. therapies,” he added.

Chemical Weekly June 3, 2025 167

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