Carbon black | additives feature The carbon black industry is moving ahead with significant
investments, novel raw materials and brand new products for pigment and conductive applications. Jennifer Markarian reports
Black to the future
Carbon blacks are important colorants and conductive additives. Thermoplastic applications that are pigment- ed with carbon black include automotive parts, agricultural film, food packaging, industrial compo- nents, pipes, and wire and cable. Other applications use special conductive carbon blacks to provide electrical conductivity and prevent the risk of electrostatic discharge (ESD). These applications include electronics and electronics packaging, clean-room equipment, automotive fuel systems, semi-conductive cable, and industrial parts used in locations with explosion risks.
Expanding options Changes in ownership in 2010 and 2011 – including Aditya Birla’s acquisition of Columbian Chemicals and Evonik’s sale of its carbon black business which has become Orion Engineered Carbons – have been followed by capacity expansions from several suppliers. These investments have been driven by continuing growth in many applications, including tyres and batteries, as well as thermoplastics. Asia continues to be a growth area, and suppliers report growth in other regions as well.
www.compoundingworld.com Timcal is on track to complete the expansion of its
Willebroek plant in Belgium by the end of 2013. The plant specializes in conductive and highly conductive carbon black for the polymer and battery markets, both of which are applications with good growth potential. The polymer market shows steady growth, but how
quickly the battery market grows will depend on the sales of electric and hybrid vehicles that use lithium-ion batteries, comments Christine Van Bellingen, product manager for carbon black and graphite for polymers at Timcal. Cabot, which supplies carbon black and carbon- black masterbatches, has been expanding capacity in China to support growing plastics demand from the automotive, infrastructure and agricultural markets. Cabot expanded masterbatch capacity at its Tianjin plant by 45,000 tonnes in 2011, while in March of this year it opened a new plastics application development laboratory in Shanghai. The company also opened a new carbon black plant in Xingtai, China, in 2013, although grades produced there are primarily for tyres. Another company investing in China is local producer Asia Carbon Industries. It converted three production
Automotive industry demand is
helping to drive growth in
carbon black sales
November 2013 | COMPOUNDING WORLD 27
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82
