Rubber & Plastics News published an editorial on current conditions in the carbon black industry, highlighting some of the recent developments in the sector. Here is the link.
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July 22, 2018
July 17, 2018
Birla Carbon adding carbon black capacity in Egypt, Italy, India, Thailand, and China
On July 17, Birla Carbon (Marietta, Georgia and Mumbai, India) announced expansions in multiple regions to support customers in the growing carbon black market. Significant debottlenecking at Birla Carbon’s factories in Egypt and Italy before the end of Q3 2018; restarting a production line in Thailand by the end of Q4 2018; and installing of new production lines in India with a start date of Q4 2019 will enable it to raise its capacities considerably. In total, Birla Carbon will be adding 150,000 tons per year of new capacity on line over the next 18 months. Furthermore, Birla plans to add another 120,000 tons per year at its newest plant in China, though no completion date was announced.
In a press release announcing the projects, Dr. Santrupt Misra, Birla Carbon’s Chief Executive Officer, said “Birla Carbon is committed to supporting our customers’ growing needs in all geographies. Implementation of these projects are underway after a series of development initiatives were identified to meet market requirements.” He further shares, “We have leveraged our latest technology to ensure the highest quality products and most reliable operations.”
Adds John Loudermilk, Chief Operating Officer, “The new capacities will enable us to serve a range of segments including production capability for high value, differentiated products in the tire, rubber goods, and specialty markets.”
July 15, 2018
Orion raising prices for specialty blacks
Last week, Orion Engineered Carbons announced that it will implement price increases on all Specialty Carbon Blacks worldwide beginning September 1st, 2018. According to the company, these actions are due to the continuously rising costs for raw materials and freight. Increases will vary depending on the product grade, sales region and end market.
July 12, 2018
Linglong breaks ground on 4th tire plant in China
China’s Shandong Linglong Tire recently held a ground breaking ceremony for its fourth facility at its Hubei Linglong Tire 247-acre site in China.
Its projected production capacities are 12 million passenger tires, 2.4 million truck/bus tires and 60,000 OTR tires.
Yantai, China-based Linglong announced its plans for the $875 million project last March.
According to Linglong, the plant will integrate intelligent manufacturing, product lifecycle management, industrial big data application and a high-end brand. The company wants to “break through regional restriction” and serve customers at zero distance, while improving market share and reducing logistics costs.
Referenced article found here.
July 10, 2018
Birla Carbon raises carbon black prices in EMEA
On June 26, Birla Carbon (Hannover, Germany) announced a price increase for carbon black for all non-contract customers in the Europe and Africa region. All shipments of rubber grades made on or after August 1, 2018 in the Europe and Africa region are subject to €94/MT price increase, net of price monthly variation.
July 6, 2018
Enviro signs MoU with Treadcraft to build tire recycling plant in USA
Enviro has signed an MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) with Treadcraft Limited to establish a new recycling plant in the city of Buffalo, New York.
The project has great support from both the State of New York and the city of Buffalo. The ambition is to start the project at the end of this year, says Thomas Sörensson, CEO Enviro.
The agreement is valid for a period of 6 months and applies to a recycling plant of minimum 30,000 tons of end-of-life tires per year.
Read the full press release here.
July 4, 2018
Evonik plans 1,000 job cuts by 2020
Evonik plans to cut up to 1,000 administrative and sales positions globally by 2020 to meet its cost reduction target, according to a June 27 press release. In the fall of 2017, Evonik set itself a target of permanently reducing administrative and selling expenses by $231.1 million worldwide.
“Our goal is to build a best-in-class specialty chemicals company,” said Christian Kullmann, Chairman of Evonik’s Board of Management. “To get there we need three things: a balanced portfolio, leading innovative capability, and a new, performance-oriented corporate culture. To this end, we are now making a big step forward on the cost side. We want to accelerate decision-making and strengthen cost-awareness.”
The first $57.8 million of the permanent savings will be achieved this year and will mainly comprise material costs.
Wanli puts U.S. plant plans on hold
China’s Guangzhou Vanlead Group Co. Ltd. has put on hold indefinitely plans it announced a year ago to invest $1 billion in a tire plant in South Carolina.
Guangzhou Vanlead, a China state-owned entity that controls Wanli Tire Group, had proposed building a tire plant in Orangeburg County, S.C., capable of producing 6 million consumer tires annually in the eight-year project’s first phase.
Sources at the Orangeburg County Development Commission (OCDC) confirmed recently that the project is in “neutral,” although the OCDC hasn’t ruled out completely that it may still come to fruition. The commission has begun showing other prospective clients the as-yet unidentified plot of land that the Wanli plant was supposed to occupy.
A Wanli source in China confirmed the project’s status, saying the company is evaluating alternative locations in Southeast Asia and Middle/Eastern Europe.
Referenced article found here.
Bridgestone announces hybrid-polymer breakthrough
Bridgestone Corp. has announced it has developed a way to bond rubber and resins at the molecular level into a hybrid polymer, a development that shows promise for reducing the amount of polymeric materials needed in tires.
The new polymer, “high strength rubber” (HSR), is described as a hybrid material: bonding synthetic-rubber components such as butadiene and isoprene with resin components such as ethylene at the molecular level. Bridgestone claims it offers “unprecedented durability” with crack-resistance of over five times greater, abrasion resistance over 2.5 times greater, and tensile strength more than 1.5 times greater than natural rubber.
The production process uses Bridgestone’s proprietary gadolinium (Gd) catalyst via copolymerization. The company said it developed the polymer by “further evolving” Gd catalyst technologies used to synthesize polyisoprene rubber.
Target applications, noted Bridgestone, include tires with higher performance and less material than current-generation tires.
The company also anticipates that HSR will help it meet its goal of converting to 100-percent sustainable materials set for 2050.
Read the full press release here.
July 3, 2018
Evonik expanding silica capacity in Turkey
June 29, 2018 — Evonik Industries announced it will increase its annual production capacity for precipitated silica at an existing production site in Adapazari, Turkey by 40,000 metric tons, investing a sum in the lower double-digit million euro range. Evonik and the EGE KIMYA company operate a joint venture in Turkey. Startup of the new production complex is scheduled for 2020. Evonik is implementing this expansion in Adapazari to support the high level of demand for the highly dispersible (HD) silica used in producing Green Tires, particularly from customers in southeastern Europe and the Middle East.
