News from Notch Consulting, Inc.

Cabot Corporation announced today that it has acquired NSCC Carbon (Jiangsu) Co., Ltd. from Nippon Steel Carbon Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Nippon Steel Chemical & Material Co., Ltd. The carbon black manufacturing facility in Pizhou, Jiangsu Province, China, was originally commissioned in 2015. Cabot has been actively exploring and implementing opportunities to increase capacity in its global carbon black network through plant expansions, operational improvements and debottlenecking projects. The 50,000 metric ton plant will support Cabot’s specialty carbons product line within the Performance Chemicals segment. The plant is scheduled to be temporarily mothballed to conduct maintenance and technology upgrades. The upgrades to manufacturing and environmental equipment will enable the site to be more flexible to manufacture different carbon black products and meet ever-stricter environmental standards. The purchase price, which is payable upon satisfaction of certain conditions, and the equipment and technology upgrades are expected to result in spending of approximately $50 million over the next two years.

On September 21, Birla Carbon Spain (Gajano, Spain), announced an investment of €5 million towards sustainability and energy efficiency projects and to increase its production capacity from 80,000 to 95,000 tons per year. The plant also inaugurated a new administrative office and laboratory complex within its premises. Earlier this year, Birla Carbon announced plans for expansion projects in Egypt, Italy, India, and Thailand.

In a press release announcing the project, Dr. Santrupt B Misra, Chief Executive Officer, Birla Carbon, stated, “At Birla Carbon, we are always striving to create our next opportunity. We always find such exciting opportunities by keenly listening to our customers and by identifying their needs around innovation and improvements. Birla Carbon’s Purpose – “Share the Strength”, brings the spirit of collaboration, engagement and action alive. Our investment into our Spain facility is yet another example of it”.

Speaking at the project’s inauguration, John Loudermilk, COO of Birla Carbon, said, “Birla Carbon is committed to investing in the future of our plants. While we are continuously innovating to ensure our products align to market needs, our technology teams are constantly working towards enhancing our processes to be more sustainable and efficient. Our announcement today, not only drives productivity higher but makes us more sustainable”.

BCS’s investment of €5 mn in the plant will achieve greater reliability and sustainability of its manufacturing process. The installation of new equipment in one of its manufacturing lines and the re-engineering of other critical equipment uses one of the best available technologies in the carbon black industry. These improvements will lead to greater productivity and environmental performance, as well as reliability, the company said in a press release.

The Carbon Black World conference, which is held every other year, is coming to Dusseldorf from September 24-26. This is an essential conference for anyone interested in this industry. Notch will be giving a paper on the Carbon Black Global Outlook on Tuesday, September 25.

In addition to two days of talks, attendees should be aware of two preconference seminars being held on Monday, September 24. I will be attending both.

Morning seminar: The changing carbon black feedstock world and the impact of sourcing on total value, from Shane Perl of The Alpen Group. Covers the impending IMO2020 regulations and how they will affect carbon black feedstock availability and sourcing.

Afternoon seminar: Recovered carbon black – from promise to products, from Martin von Wolfersdorff of Wolfersdorff Consulting. Covers the emerging market for recovered carbon black — a panel discussion group with industry all-stars will discuss the current status, success & application stories and future technology for recovered carbon black from tyre pyrolysis.

Indian carbon black producer Himadri Specialty Chemicals has selected Terra Firma (Towson, MD) as its exclusive distributor for specialty carbon black in Northeastern, Southeastern, and Southwestern United States effective September 6, 2018. The agreement covers carbon black grades with applications in plastics, inks, coatings, and wire and cable. Himadri is expanding both its capacity and grade mix for specialty blacks.