News from Notch Consulting, Inc.

Orion Engineered Carbons S.A. is presenting a new surface-modified carbon black for rubber applications at the 196th Technical Meeting of the Rubber Division of the American Chemical Society in Cleveland, Ohio on October 9, 2019. The meeting is part of the International Elastomer Conference (IEC), which provides a forum for the exchange of ideas, observations, regulatory reforms and emerging scientific technologies.

The paper is titled “Surface Modified Carbon Black for Modern Low Rolling Resistance Tires” and will be presented by Dr. Hauke Westenberg, Compounding Manager from Orion’s Innovation Group. According to Orion, the new carbon black filler system significantly reduces the energy loss of a tire tread compound and therefore the tire rolling resistance. This increases fuel efficiency and reduces the tire’s carbon footprint.

On September 12, Tokai Carbon, parent company of Cancarb Limited, announced the appointment of Mr. Peter Donnelly as President, replacing Mr. Ken Tate, who will retire as of September 30, 2019. Mr. Tate will remain in an advisory capacity through December 31, 2019. Cancarb Limited is the world’s largest producer of medium thermal black.

Takashi Masaki, General Manager of the Carbon Black Division of Tokai Carbon stated, “We extend our thanks to Ken Tate for his efforts over the past five years, especially in seeing through the transition to Cancarb being a subsidiary of Tokai Carbon, as well as initiation and approval of the unit six expansion.”

Peter Donnelly has worked in various roles in Cancarb over the past 24 years including most recently as VP, Marketing, and prior to that as Director, Quality and Development. “We are confident that his vision and strong mindset will successfully guide Cancarb in the coming years,” Masaki said.

On August 19, Cabot Corp. announced that it will apply a Feedstock Surcharge of $0.03 per pound for all carbon black products sold by the Reinforcement Materials segment in North America, effective October 1, 2019 and to the extent allowed under customer contracts.  This replaces the previously announced feedstock surcharge of $.01 per pound that has been in effect since April 1, 2019.

According to a company press release announcing the increase, the carbon black feedstock market in North America is seeing increasing effects from changes in the types of crude oil being refined and an increase in demand for low sulfur fuel oil associated with the upcoming 2020 International Maritime Organization (IMO 2020) regulation, also known as MARPOL. As a result, Cabot is seeing changes to the type and availability of material with the specific quality required to produce carbon black.