Manufacturing Process

Carbon Blacks destined for the rubber industry are the product of incomplete combustion of hydrocarbons. The raw material – the so-called feedstock – is supplied by the petroleum industry according to precise specifications. Carbochemical oils from coal tar distillation or residual oils from catalytic mineral oil fractions cracking also qualify as source materials.

The Furnace Black Process is the most common manufacturing process. Here, liquid feedstock is sprayed into a combustion mixture of natural gas and pre-heated air. Following Carbon Black formation, the process mixture is then shock-cooled by water injection – also as a measure to prevent unwanted secondary reactions. The Furnace Black Process allows for high precision in defining both the structure and the surface of the Carbon Black particles as they form. The initial product in powder form can then be pelletized (beaded) to facilitate onward handling.

Other manufacturing processes, based on the same physico-chemical principle, are the Lamp Black Process and Evonik Degussa’s own Gas Black Process. Both deliver Carbon Blacks with a distinct set of product characteristics and properties.

Furnace Black Process

Lamp Black Process

Gas Black Process

Production sites

1

) Aransas Pass, USA
2) Ivanhoe/New Iberia, USA
3) Belpre, USA
4) Paulinia, Brasilia
5) Sines, Portugal
6) Bordeaux, France
7) Botlek, The Netherlands
8) Dortmund, Germany
8) Cologne, Germany
9) Jaslo, Poland
10) Ravenna, Italy
11) Port Elizabeth, South Africa
12) Qingdao, China
13) Bupyong, Korea
14) Yosu, Korea
15) Malmö, Sweden
16) Baytown, USA
17) Borger, USA
18) Orange, USA

Plants in the US are plants of Degussa Engineered Carbons (DEC) which is a joint venture between Engineered Carbon Inc. and Degussa Corp.