Ahead of this year's Recovered Carbon Black Asia 2024, we spoke with Martin Von Wolfersdorff, Principal Advisor at Wolfersdorff Consulting, to get a sneak peek of what we can expect from his presentation on 'Opportunities in Asia with recovered carbon black & tyre pyrolysis oil ' Here's what he had to say…





Q1 Your presentation at the inaugural Recovered Carbon Black Asia will cover Opportunities in Asia with recovered carbon black & tyre pyrolysis oil. Why is it important for others in the industry to hear this message?

There is a tremendous opportunity for tyre circularity with recovered carbon black and tyre pyrolysis oil as feedstock for circular polymers or circular carbon black.
However, the eastern and western world have very different approaches. Pyrolysis processes are more established in the east, while recovered carbon black and circularity are more established in the west. I think there are opportunities in combining the two approaches in order to accelerate industry growth.

Q2 What are the main challenges in your day-to-day work relating to sustainability in tires/recovered carbon black/tire pyrolysis?

As an expert working with the whole tyre and rubber value chain, my biggest challenge is to help rCB producers overcome the vicious circle of funding. Investors want sales contracts with buyers, but for that rCB companies need samples and for samples they need production equipment and for production equipment they need funding. The cat is chasing its tail!

Q3 What are some of the biggest opportunities gaining attention within the recovered Carbon Black industry?

The biggest opportunities lie in collaborations and in eco-system building with a number of companies in the tyre and rubber value chain.

Q4 What do you think will be some of the most interesting advancements in recovered carbon black/tire pyrolysis in the near future?

In my opinion the most needed and most interesting advancement for recovered carbon black will be establishing rCB product classification standards.
This will support industry growth by commoditisation of recovered carbon black.

Q5 What are the challenges the tire pyrolysis value chain has to overcome in the next few years?

I believe at the moment, financing of industrial assets is the biggest industry challenge. After that, the building of stable supply chains will be a major topic. Only way after that, we will need new technologies such as ash leaching.

Q6 What collaborations in/with the value chain are you seeking?

I am seeking to help recovered carbon black companies with business strategy and commercialisation of recovered carbon black.
I also seek to film interviews and recovered carbon black production sites for my documentary film.