Indian coal tar derivatives company, Epsilon Carbon Private Limited (ECPL) has established India’s first integrated carbon black complex located in Bellary, Karnataka, South India. With a capacity of 115,000 tonnes/year, the carbon black unit has successfully commissioned its operations and is already running close to its full capacity. The integrated facility produces both tread and carcass grades of ASTM carbon blacks for tyre, non-tyre rubber and plastic masterbatch partners globally.
As part of Phase 2 plans, Epsilon says it will further expand its capacity by another 65,000 tonnes/year, with additional investment of US$800 million, which will bring the total investment close to US$2 billion. Epsilon plans to further expand its capacity of carbon black to total of 300,000 tonnes/year, at full capacity it will be India’s largest single location carbon black plant which will bring cost efficiency and consistent quality products for our customers.
Epsilon says this newly commissioned complex enjoys natural competitive advantage by providing a complete backward integration support for raw material sourcing. The Anthracene oil generated in the coal tar distillation process will be used as a clean feedstock in the carbon black unit. The security of raw materials & consistency in feedstock quality helps ECPL to produce consistent quality carbon black which are designed for tyre & mechanical rubber goods applications.
This integrated carbon complex is first-of-its-kind manufacturing facility in India, which uses waste coke oven gas from the steel plant as a fuel and tail-gas from the carbon black unit is fed back to the steel complex for pre-heating operations. Compared to other plants, which use high sulphur feedstock (3% sulphur), this unit uses captive low-sulphur feedstock (0.3-0.5% sulphur). All these parameters have enabled this carbon black plant setting a new benchmark in low SOx/NOx and CO2 emissions, making it highly ecological, says Epsilon.
Vikram Handa, Managing Director of Epsilon Carbon, said, “Globally the markets are growing steadily, and we see lots of opportunities in both tyre, mechanical rubber goods and industrial plastic in next few years. In today’s global supply chain, customers are looking for localisation and Epsilon Carbon is well positioned to cater to the growing demand with niche quality products. We are happy to say that Epsilon Carbon is now a registered body under REACH which certifies our products as one of safest, enabling our European partners to have access to our quality products.”
The company is accredited for various quality certifications to ensure our customers get consistent product quality, superior performance in various applications and other benefits. The company is focused on servicing global markets and has appointed over thirty partners who will assist with local service, warehousing and logistics support to provide just on time delivery to our customers.