Cabot Corporation announced on Monday that it had entered into an agreement to purchase Shenzhen Sanshun Nano New Materials Co., Ltd (SUSN), a carbon nanotube (CNT) producer in China for approximately $115 million. SUSN is the second largest CNT producer in the world, and the acquisition will significantly strengthen Cabot’s market position and formulation capabilities in the batteries segment, particularly in China. SUSN produces both dry powder CNTs and dispersions. Cabot produces a range of conductive carbon products, including Vulcan XC-series carbon blacks, PBX carbon performance additives for advanced lead-acid batteries, LITX conductive additives for lithium-ion batteries, and ATHLOS carbon nanostructures. With this acquisition, Cabot will be the only carbon additive supplier offering carbon black, CNT, carbon nanostructure and dispersion capabilities, according to the company. SUSN commissioned a new CNT plant in China in November 2018, which has sufficient capacity to support growth over the next several years. The company will be managed as part of Cabot’s global energy materials business within the Performance Chemicals segment. The parties expect to close the transaction in the second quarter of fiscal 2020.
January 8, 2020
December 18, 2019
Michelin sets goal of zero CO2 emissions from all plants by 2050
To reduce the carbon footprint of its tire manufacturing, Michelin has a developed a strategy founded on two pillars: consume less, and transition to renewable energy sources. According to the company, these strategies already are being implemented: in Europe, 85% of its plants are powered by electricity that is guaranteed to come from renewable sources. And CO2 emissions were reduced by 22% between 2010 and 2018.
In the future, the company plans to achieve these efforts by improving the energy-efficiency of industrial tools, using more renewable energy, and eliminating coal: currently, 5 out of the company’s 70 sites around the world are still coal-fired. Michelin has launched studies to evaluate the feasibility of replacing coal with another source of primary energy, such as gas or biomass. All Michelin plants will phase out the use of coal by 2030 at the latest.
December 16, 2019
Joint Venture planning carbon black plant in Turkey
Turkish newspaper Sabah is reporting that Turkey’s largest occupational pension fund, OYAK, and the world’s sixth-largest carbon black manufacturer, Taiwanese company International CSRC Investment Holdings Co. Ltd., have started to work on establishing a carbon black production facility in İskenderun, Hatay Province, Turkey. The plant will have 220,000 tons of annual capacity. The plant will be equipped with advanced environmental systems as well as energy recovery. No completion date was announced. Here is the Reuters notice on the project.
December 10, 2019
December 4, 2019
Cooper & Sailun produce first tire at new plant in Vietnam
Cooper Tire & Rubber and Sailun Vietnam Co., Ltd. recently celebrated production of a first tire at ACTR, their new joint venture facility located near Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Cooper owns 35 percent of ACTR, which will produce truck and bus radial (TBR) tires for global markets. The ceremonial first tire was the centerpiece of a special event held at the facility on Nov. 18 to celebrate construction of the plant.
The plant is expected to be operational and producing tires on a commercial level by early 2020. At full capacity, production is expected to be approximately 2 million tires annually.
November 28, 2019
PolyOne introduces new color concentrate using recovered carbon black
Plastics News has a writeup on PolyOne’s latest product introductions based on sustainable materials, including the following:
OnColor-brand Recovered Carbon Environmental Black. A new color concentrate derived from end-of-life tires, which officials said is a sustainable alternative to those based on virgin carbon black. The material creates a smaller carbon footprint than virgin carbon black because it uses 90 percent less water and 61 percent less electricity while emitting 90 percent less carbon dioxide in its manufacturing process, officials said.
November 26, 2019
Bridgestone brings first at-scale use of recovered carbon black to tire market
On November 20, Bridgestone Americas, Inc. announced the industry’s first at-scale use of recovered carbon black (rCB) in the tire market as part of its long-standing partnership with Delta-Energy Group, LLC.
The move to at-scale commercialization of D-E Black®, Delta-Energy Group’s proprietary rCB product recovered from EOL tires, marks a significant milestone in achieving Bridgestone Group’s long-term environmental vision of targeting 100% sustainable materials – and contributing to a reduction of over 50% CO2 emissions – by the year 2050 and beyond. The process by Delta-Energy Group to extract materials produces 81% less CO2 per ton as compared to virgin carbon black. The investment also serves Bridgestone’s larger mission to drive toward a circular economy that eliminates waste through the continual use of resources, according to the company.
Bridgestone began evaluating Delta-Energy’s materials in 2007 and became an equity partner in late 2014. Since that time, the use of D-E Black as a partial replacement for vCB in new tires has undergone extensive testing to ensure compliance with the high standards and superior quality and performance for which Bridgestone tires are known. To date, Bridgestone has purchased approximately 235 metric tons of rCB, the equivalent of more than 70,000 EOL tires, resulting in the reduction of approximately 765,000 pounds of CO2 emissions, compared to using vCB. By the end of 2020, Bridgestone plans to increase the use of D-E Black to 6,800 metric tons, equivalent to about 2 million EOL tires and a reduction of about 24 million pounds of carbon emissions.
Bob Genovese, Delta-Energy CEO, said in the press release that Delta-Energy has plans to build several more plants in North America over the next few years to produce D-E Black. Bridgestone is using D-E Black in high-quality tires for agriculture and passenger applications across multiple plants in the Americas, including the Bridgestone Des Moines Agriculture Tire Plant, Aiken County Passenger Tire Plant, and the Bridgestone Cuernavaca Tire Plant. The company is currently evaluating new opportunities to expand its usage of D-E Black into additional plants and product lines.
Cabot relocating Georgia office to Latvia
The Atlanta Business Chronicle reports that Cabot Corp. is planning to layoff staff at its office in Alpharetta, GA and move those functions to a shared service center in Riga, Latvia. Cabot filed a notice with the Georgia Department of Labor announcing that it plans to cut 67 jobs at the Alpharetta office. “The first layoffs at this location are expected to start on January 17, 2020. Additional layoffs will take place between then and September 25, 2020,” the company said. A list of the positions being eliminated is available here.
European Carbon Black Summit scheduled for Frankfurt
ACI’s 2nd European Carbon Black Summit has been scheduled for Frankfurt, Germany on 24 & 25 June 2020. The two day event will bring together the senior representatives of the different stakeholders involved in the carbon black sector from producers, technology developers, rubber producers, chemical suppliers, researchers, as well as other influential stakeholders from the value chain. This is a new conference covering the carbon black industry — the first one was held in London in June 2019.
