Epsilon Carbon, India’s leading carbon black producer, has an installed capacity of 115,000 tonnes/year at its manufacturing unit at Vijayanagar, Karnataka.
As a part of the company’s growth plans, Epsilon plans to expand the capacity of its Vijayanagar unit by adding another 100,000 tonnes with an investment of around US$67 million. This will increase the company’s carbon black capacity by 85% to 215,000 tonnes. It expects the new capacity to be commissioned by end of FY24.
The investment also includes setting-up of a 25 MW captive power plant to service its entire energy needs within its own integrated carbon complex. With this new capex plan, Epsilon’s overall investment in the carbon business division will surpass Rs 1,000 crore. The capex investment will be funded through internal accruals and debt.
Commenting on the new investments in the carbon black business, Vikram Handa, Managing Director of Epsilon Carbon says, “Staying true to Epsilon’s philosophy of adopting sustainable and environment friendly business practices, the new capacity expansion is being undertaken with a strong focus on energy efficiency, lowering emissions and waste heat utilization to ensure reduction of GHG. The new capacity will help Epsilon Carbon service the growing needs of our customers with whom we have been working closely since the past 18 months to qualify and service with high quality products. As part of our long-term business plan, we expect the Carbon Black business to account for 40 per cent revenues of Epsilon Carbon and are targeting Rs 5000 crore consolidated revenues by FY25.”
Epsilon adds it is committed to enabling circularity in its operations. The captive power plant will use tail gases from the carbon black manufacturing process to reduce emissions. The power generated from this plant will fulfil the power requirements of all of its operations in its Vijayanagar facility.
Epsilon Carbon says it is targeting to meet more than 15% of its energy requirements through renewable sources. It is also targeting 10% reduction in overall energy consumption per metric ton of raw material processed and 20% reduction in GHG Emission per metric ton of raw material processed by FY25. The company is investing Rs150 crore in meeting these targets. It has also partnered with a US-based LCA firm, Sphera, to develop and monitor the life cycle assessment (LCA) of manufacturing carbon black.