News from Notch Consulting, Inc.

March 12, 2021

Birla Carbon raising specialty black prices

Filed under: Carbon Black, General — Notch @ 7:37 pm

On March 11, Birla Carbon (Mumbai, India & Marietta, GA) announced an increase in specialty black prices. The worldwide price increase of up to 9% will become effective April 19, 2021, and all shipments made on or after this date are subject to the increase. Birla said that the increase is necessary due to the increasing costs of doing business in all regions.

March 10, 2021

Emerald closing Illinois accelerator site

Filed under: Rubber Chemicals — Notch @ 12:35 pm

Emerald Performance Materials L.L.C. is closing a chemical plant in Henry, Illinois, a move that will impact more than 50 workers at the facility. Layoffs at the plant will begin April 6 and be completed by June 30. News of the plant closure follows the February announcement that Lanxess A.G. would acquire Emerald Kalama Chemical, a business unit of Emerald Performance Materials, for $1 billion. That deal, which is expected to close in the second half of 2021, included Emerald’s operations in Kalama, Washington, Rotterdam, Netherlands, and Widnes, England, but did not include the Illinois plant. Among other products, the Henry, Illinois plant produces sulfenamide accelerators.

March 4, 2021

Carbon Black Asia Webinar coming next week

Filed under: Carbon Black, Conferences, Coronavirus/COVID-19, General — Notch @ 6:00 am

Notch is participating in a webinar scheduled for Wednesday, March 10. The webinar will consist of three presentations covering the current carbon black and carbon black feedstock situation in Asia: Paul Ita of Notch Consulting will cover Asia Carbon Black Supply/Demand; Shane Perl of ALPEN Group will cover feedstocks; and Martin von Wolfersdorff of Wolfersdorff Consulting will cover customer mapping in Asia and green carbons. After the presentations we will have a short discussion followed by question/answer. The pricing for the webinar is a very affordable €29. The start time on March 10th, 2021 at 06h00 (Berlin), 10h30 (Dehli), 13h00 (Shanghai), 14h00 (Tokyo), 16h00 (Sydney), 0h00 (New York). If that time does not suit you, you can watch the replay recording any time. You can find more information and register here.

February 25, 2021

Carlisle extends TyrFil Recycling Technology

Filed under: Tire Recycling, Tires — Notch @ 2:39 pm

Carlisle Construction Materials, a subsidiary of Carlisle Companies Inc., is extending the company’s TyrFil Recycling Technology.

The new AutoFil-GenII pump can mix virgin tire fill with crumb rubber, polyurethane grind or a combination of both crumb rubber and PU. The new pump delivers “enhanced pump and grind speeds and significantly reduced clean-up time,” the company said. There also is enhanced visual interface through a monitor with improved touchscreen capabilities.

According to Carlisle, its TyrFil computer systems can accurately meter and mix controlled amounts virgin liquid tire fill with granulated tire fill to create a homogenous mixture for tire fill. Carlisle TyrFil is also known as foam fill and can be pumped into OTR tires to replace air with an elastomer core to eliminate flats. The process can be used on tires for both commercial and industrial heavy-equipment vehicles.

February 23, 2021

Cancarb completes thermal black expansion

Filed under: Carbon Black — Notch @ 12:33 am

Cancarb Limited announced today the completion and successful commissioning of the sixth unit at its thermal carbon black production facility in Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada. This expansion brings capacity for its Thermax brand of thermal carbon black products to 54,000 MT per year. “The project was planned, constructed and commissioned safely utilizing over 50 different contractor groups. This amounted to over 110,000 manhours of labor,” commented Jerimy Chisholm, Project Manager. “The construction was completed without any serious injuries nor incidents, during a pandemic,” added Chisholm. The project averaged 40 contractors on site each day during construction, most of which occurred under restricted conditions to prevent transmission of the COVID-19 virus. The majority of work was completed utilizing local contractors, with much of the specialized equipment, structural steel and piping being fabricated locally. “The new unit provides Cancarb with an additional 9,000 MT of capacity to serve our global customer base and gives us significant operational flexibility to maintain our other five units while pursuing new growth,” said Chisholm. “I would like to extend our gratitude to all of the project team, suppliers, contractors and Cancarb employees that made this a successful and safely completed project.” Cancarb, the world’s largest producer of thermal black, is a subsidiary of Japan-based Tokai Carbon Co. Ltd.

February 22, 2021

Goodyear acquiring Cooper for $2.5B

Filed under: General, Tires — Notch @ 10:35 pm

Goodyear Tire & Rubber announced today that it has reached an agreement to buy Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. for $2.5 billion. Akron-based Goodyear is the third largest tiremaker in the world with annual sales totaling $13.7 billion in 2019, while Cooper ranked 13th worldwide with annual sales of $2.75 billion in 2019. The purchase has been approved by the Board of Directors of both companies. The combined company will have approximately $17.5 billion in sales, based on 2019 figures, according to Goodyear.

February 17, 2021

BKT expanding capacity for tires and carbon black in India

Filed under: Carbon Black, General, Tires — Notch @ 12:46 am

Balkrishna Industries Ltd. has announced a capital investment plan valued at $257 million that will increase capacity for OTR tires and carbon black in India.

The program has three components:

BKT will invest $108 million to boost capacity for 51- and 57-inch OTR tires at the factory in Bhuj, Gujarat, along with debottlenecking and the installation of additional ancillary equipment. Overall capacity will be expanded by 50,000 metric tons per year.

BKT will spend $60 million on modernization, automation and technology upgrades at Bhuj and another tire plant in Bhiwadi, Rajasthan.

BKT will spend $88 million to expand capacity at a carbon black plant located at the Bhuj factory complex. Capacity will increase to 200,000 tons per year. The plant started up in 2019. The company did not release a completion date for this project.

In addition, BKT is nearing completion on a new farm/industrial/OTR tire plant being built in Waluj, Maharashtra, which will replace a 30-year-old facility nearby. BKT said it expects the plant to be operational by the first quarter of 2022 with a start-up capacity of 30,000 metric tons per year.

Finally, BKT’s board of directors confirmed that the company’s proposed tire factory to be built in the United States, which was first proposed in 2018, has been shelved due to “business uncertainties.”

February 16, 2021

Sumitomo expanding tire capacity in NY, Thailand, and Japan

Filed under: Carbon Black, General, Rubber, Rubber Chemicals, Silica, Tires — Notch @ 11:11 pm

Sumitomo Rubber Industries Ltd. (Kobe, Japan) plans to invest $122 million over three years to increase capacity for passenger car, light truck, and medium truck tires at its factory in Tonawanda, New York. Sumitomo is budgeting $96 million to raise capacity for car and light truck tires from 6,500 units/day to 12,000 units/day by year-end 2023, as well as another $26 million to raise truck tire capacity from 1,750 units/day to 2,300 units/day by year-end 2024.

In a press release announcing the project, Sumitomo said the expansions were driven by strong demand in North America for its light truck, SUV, and medium truck tires. In particular, sales of the company’s Falken-brand high-performance tires continued to expand steadily in 2020 despite the impact of COVID-19.

In Asia, Sumitomo is expanding capacity for light truck and SUV tires at plants in Amati, Thailand, and Miyazaki, Japan. With the expansions, Sumitomo will have capacity to produce 4,150 units/day at the plant in Thailand by year-end 2023 and 1,600 units/day at the plant in Japan by year end 2024. These expansions will primarily be used to supply the North American market.

February 7, 2021

Linglong’s Serbian tire plant attracts EU environmental scrutiny

Filed under: Carbon Black, General, Rubber Chemicals, Tires — Notch @ 1:12 pm

Shandong Linglong Tire Co.’s new tire plant in Zrenjanin, Serbia is attracting new environmental scrutiny as 26 members of the European Parliament have called on the legislative body to enforce existing environmental laws at the construction site. In a letter to EP Commissioner Oliver Varhelyi, the members, which collectively represent 15 EU nations, catalogued various complaints related to the plant’s construction and permitting, including issues with environmental impact and water usage. The letter calls upon the EP to require the Serbian government to “provide a clear action plan moving forward on how they are going to address the existing issues outlined above, as well as a commitment to honoring and following both their own domestic legislation and the regulations passed down as part of the EU accession process.”

Linglong broke ground in April 2019 on the $994 million factory, which will produce 12 million car tires, 1.6 million truck/bus tires, and 20,000 OTR tires per year at full capacity.

Orion raises acetylene black prices

Filed under: Carbon Black — Notch @ 12:15 pm

Orion Engineered Carbons announced on Friday that it will increase pricing for acetylene black by 20 percent globally on March 1st, 2021, or as contracts allow.

Orion acquired the acetylene black plant in France in late 2018. Since the purchase, Orion has adjusted the facility’s strategic focus, requiring new investments to better serve the growing market demand for acetylene black used in lithium-ion battery production. In addition to these strategic investments, the company has also been confronted with rising costs for packaging, transportation, and environmental obligations, which led to the price increase.

 

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