Orion Engineered Carbons, a global supplier of specialty and high-performance carbon black and the state-owned RISE Research Institutes of Sweden tied up in a project to develop and produce renewable carbon black. This collaboration represents an important step towards more climate-neutral carbon black production by replacing traditional carbon black feedstock with pyrolysis oil from biomass oil.
Luxembourg-headqartered Orion said that it plans to convert the biomass oil into carbon black using its small-scale furnace reactor in Kalscheuren, Germany and will explore ways to upscale the process to match market demands. Additionally, using a pilot-scale reactor at its site in Piteå, Sweden, RISE will evaluate the use of electrofuels, such as plasma or hydrogen from electrolysis, as sustainable heat sources for the carbon black process.
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RISE has already shown that it could be economically feasible to produce carbon black using pyrolysis oil from wood-derived feedstock. Orion’s project goal is to validate commercial production based on this research.
Orion’s Senior Vice President David Deters emphasised the company’s sustainability commitment, saying that the partnership aligns with meeting the “rising interest in renewable carbon black as the tyre industry. “ The collaboration with the Swedish research institute, Deters said “works to address Orion’s long-term goal of reducing fossil-derived feedstocks across the supply chain.”