INNOVATION | CARBON BLACK
Right: The Monolith Materials natural gas to carbon black pilot facility at Seaport in the US
Alternative production US-based Monolith Materials is nearing comple- tion of its commercial scale plant for production of carbon black from natural gas at Hallam in Nebras- ka. Monolith’s plasma production process is said to virtually eliminate pollutants created with tradition- al carbon black manufacturing. As a further gain, it creates hydrogen as a co-product; Monolith will use this to power an electricity generating plant to replace one of its coal-fired generators. According to an independent full-life cycle
environmental impact study commissioned by Monolith and based on production of 210,000 tonnes/yr of carbon black, the company’s plasma process will lead to an annual reduction of more than 500,000 tonnes/yr of CO2
, 20,000 tonnes of
NOx, and 3,000 tonnes of SOx compared to traditional furnace black processes. Monolith’s chief commercial officer Chris
Cornille says early discussions with customers have been positive. “We’re scheduled to complete our commissioning in Q1 of 2020,” he says. “In the second half of 2020, we plan to have product shipping to customers.”
Below: Imerys Graphite & Carbon has opened this new R&D centre at its headquarters at Bironico in Switzerland
Critical applications Among established producers of carbon black, Dominique Strassler, Global Marketing Segment Manager at Cabot Corp says innovations taking place at the company are intended to enable new technologies that will deliver improved efficiency and performance in critical thermoplastics applica- tions. For automotive applications, where demand for lightweighting and metal replacement is growing and where requirements for mechanical performance of components continually increase, it is targeting its speciality Black Pearls 800, 880 and 900 grades, as well as a soon-to-be-launched easy-to-disperse high-jetness carbon black. Black Pearls grades are also said to provide good surface finish in parts, as well as chemical resistance. With the electrification of the automotive
powertrain and the increasing number of sensors for driver-assistance and autonomous driving, the need for excellent electromagnetic shielding (EMI) has also gained traction, notes Strassler. Vulcan XCmax 22 specialty carbon black as well as Athlos carbon nanostructures are said to deliver value in a broad range of polymer resins needing shielding properties. “Cabot also possesses deep knowledge of how these products interact with other additives in these conductive applications,” she says. Recycling enablement is also high on the company’s priority list. “Cabot continues to contribute to the circular economy and is collabo- rating with sorting technology providers and creating new formulations to improve the sortabil- ity of black plastics,” Strassler adds. In a related development, Cabot collaborated with sorting equipment specialist Steinert, which now offers equipment that sorts out black plastics items in post-consumer waste (UniSort Black) and also separates black plastics by polymer type (UniSort BlackEye).
In addition, at K2019 in Dusseldorf last month,
Cabot launched a new series of black masterbatches – TechBlak 85 –made from post- industrial carbon black and recycled polymers. They are said to be tailored for compounding, injection moulding and non-critical film applications in markets such as industrial, packaging and consumer. At Imerys Graphite & Carbon Anna Ellet, Field
Application Engineer Polymers, says the company’s Ensaco and high aspect ratio specialty C-Therm
34 COMPOUNDING WORLD | November 2019
www.compoundingworld.com
PHOTO: IMERYS GRAPHITE & CARBON
PHOTO: MONOLITH MATERIALS
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