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Pre-conference Workshop - Monday 4th November Day one - Tuesday 5th November Day two - Wednesday 6th November
Session 1 - In plant product finishing
Session 2 - Testing, documenting, regulatory
Networking break
Session 3 - Transport
Session 4 - Markets & prices
End of workshop
Registration and welcome refreshments
Smithers welcome
SESSION 1 - MARKET TRENDS AND BUSINESS UPDATES
Chair’s opening presentation
Martin Von Wolfersdorff | Principal Advisor, Wolfersdorff Consulting
Carbon black global outlook: focus on Europe
Current conditions and future prospects for the global carbon black industry, with a focus on Europe. Includes an overview of tire industry investment in new capacity, as well as sustainability objectives, timelines, and focus. Provides a look at carbon black conditions, supply/demand, and outlook, and ends with a discussion of the outlook for recovered carbon black.
Paul Ita | President, Notch Consulting
Sustainable carbon black - the race for tire pyrolysis oils
The tire and carbon black industries are making significant progress in circularity, especially through the chemical recycling of end-of-life tires (ELTs). A key initiative in the virgin Carbon Black (vCB) sector aims for sustainable production by replacing fossil Carbon Black Feedstock (CBFS) with tire-derived pyrolysis oils (TPO). This shift is driven by intense competition for TPO, due to its biogenic content and regulatory mandates, among stakeholders like the Carbon Black industry, chemical manufacturers, refineries, and oil traders. Currently, global TPO production is around 1.7 million tons annually, with 99% consumed by oil refineries and local fuel markets, limiting its availability for sustainable uses. To promote sustainable carbon black and innovative recycling efforts, diversifying TPO applications is crucial. This requires inter-industry collaboration, stronger policy support, and investment in advanced technologies to increase TPO production and availability for sustainable applications. These strategies will ensure that circularity efforts in the tire and carbon black industries are not only maintained but significantly advanced.
Robert Weibold | Managing Director, Robert Weibold
Overcoming the investment hurdle: securing funding for large scale rCB companies
Last year’s main topic of discussion at the Recovered Carbon Black World conference was the challenge of finding funding in a difficult economy, especially for capital intensive, emerging industrial process technologies in the energy transition and circular economy sectors, like pyrolysis plants. Since various tire pyrolysis companies in the industry are currently aiming to scale from demonstration to industrial scale, a crucial aspect to enter into this growth stage is to achieve sufficient and appropriate capital funding.
This year saw a few companies in the sector finding ways through the difficult investment climate and raising funding. Foremost among these, Circtec completed a €150 million funding round for the construction of its flagship chemical recycling facility, with a capacity of circa 5% of the yearly generated ELTs in the European Union. In this presentation we will outline the lengthy process we undertook in planning and securing our financial raise against the economic headwinds, and why we structured the fund raise the way we did. Furthermore, the presentation will outline the different funding types available to the sector, lessons learned on optimum funding structures and our considerations when selecting funding partners.
Allen Timpany | Co-founder & CEO, Circtec
Networking break
What will the next 5 years bring for the tire recycling industry? Spotlight on the new EU mandate and potential shifts in regulatory priorities
María Vera-Duran | Project Manager, European Recycling Industries' Confederation (EuRIC)
Keynote panel of CEOs from the leading rCB producers:
  • How to close the gap between anticipated market demand and willingness to invest
  • Market drivers / government policies that could support the scale-up of the industry
  • Sharing insights on the process to reach industrial readiness
Moderator:
David Shaw, CEO, Tire Industry Research
Panellists:
Pascal  Klein, Co-founder and CEO, Pyrum Innovations AG
Robert Harper, Co-founder and Deputy CEO, Circtec
Tony Wibbeler, CEO, Bolder Industries
Fredrik Emilson, CEO, Scandinavian Enviro Systems AB
Networking lunch
SESSION 2 - APPLICATIONS
Use of recovered carbon black for mechanical rubber goods : opportunities and challenges
Together with its 40,000 employees, customers, suppliers and all stakeholders, Hutchinson aims at achieving 50% reduction of its carbon emissions for Scopes 1 and 2 by 2030 and net carbon neutrality for all Scopes by 2050. At shorter term, our customers, especially automotive OEM, request a strong involvement in making sustainable products using recycled (from waste), bio-based and/or renewable (from biomass) raw materials. It is already asked to introduce minimum 25 % of recycled and/or biobased material in our products with the aim to decrease their carbon footprint. The presentation will focus on the assessment of recovered carbon black coming from different companies in EPDM formulation for mechanical rubber goods applications and a case study on LCA calculation with the different environmental impact of the production of such material. We will also highlight the industrial challenges we face to use this new raw material in our rubber compounds.
Loïc Picard, PhD | R&I Project Manager – Elastomer Materials Development, Hutchinson S.A.
Circular elastomers from tires through TPO or by other means
The tire manufacturers have set themselves targets to be consuming certain levels of recycled or renewable materials during their tire manufacturing by 2030. This level will be further increased through to 2050. Their suppliers must play a role in allowing these targets to be met as well as meeting their own targets for reduction in Green House Gas (GHG) emissions. This presentation will show how bio, bio-circular and circular feedstocks can be employed to produce monomers which in turn can be converted into new elastomers. From a tire industry perspective, producing new elastomers from tire pyrolysis oil (TPO) generated from recycling end of life tires is an attractive way to close the loop. These aspects will influence the development activities of the entire value chain, and particularly for raw material suppliers like ARLANXEO.
David Hardy | Technical Service & Development Manager, Arlanxeo
Practical experiences of the use and marketing of rCB in sustainable products
Carl Cumming, R&D Manager and Stream Leader for rCB, Trelleborg Mixing Forsheda 
Fredrik Nilsson, Managing Director, Trelleborg Mixing Forsheda
Networking break
Alliances as a means to drive market share and profitability: case study of Reoil’s cooperation with the Zeppelin Tire Alliance
Michał Mikuśkiewicz | Representative of the Management Board, Reoil Sp. z o.o.
International updates – market trends, regulatory environment, rCB specifications and applications
Moderator:
David Shaw, CEO, Tire Industry Research
Speakers:
Andy Yuan, Director of Business Development, Enrestec 
Vishesh Agarwal, CEO, royal carbon black pvt ltd
Yongrak Choi, Chief Strategy Officer, LD Carbon
Chair’s closing remarks and end of day one
Evening networking drinks reception
Coaches will leave for the networking venue from Steigenberger Airport Hotel at 17:30
Registration and welcome refreshments
SESSION 3 - CIRCULARITY & SUSTAINABILITY
Chair's opening presentation: Cabot’s long-term reclaimed carbon technology developments
Investment in the tire pyrolysis industry is limited as tire pyrolysis oil is in high demand while reclaimed carbon continues to face adoption challenges due to performance, quality, consistency, and reliability. In this presentation, Cabot Corporation will provide insights to its future technology developments to overcome the challenges associated with reclaimed carbon, enabling broader industry use of reclaimed carbon to support a circular economy long-term. The presentation will include data to validate that the technology advancements will enable broader use of reclaimed carbon through enhanced performance.
Raffaele di Ronza | Senior Application and Technical Solutions Manager, Cabot Corporation
Life Cycle Assessments – a key attribute for the circular material value chain
One of the key attributes for sustainable raw materials is their environmental footprint. These footprints are normally documented through Life Cycle Assessments (LCA) or the more detailed Environmental Product Declarations (EPD). For sustainable carbonaceous material (rCB) there is currently no consensus on how these important documents are collated leading to potentially misleading claims being made, despite the best intentions of the compiling organizations. In this presentation, the process to produce a comprehensive LCA for Continua™ 8000 SCM using ISO 14040 methodology will be described. The work currently underway at ASTM to produce Product Category Rules (PCR) for sustainable carbonaceous material (rCB) will also be summarised.
Dr. Joe Hallett | Technical Lead for Continua™, Birla Carbon
Continental's sustainability ambitions
This presentation will show some of our overarching sustainability goals at Continental Tires. In this context, it will show what it means to increase the sustainability of our production processes and products. What this means for our raw materials and, in particular, what options we are considering as sustainable alternatives to fossil-based carbon black. Carbon black remains an important resource as a filler in tire production and other industrial rubber goods. Therefore, the use of sustainable alternatives to fossil-based carbon black, such as carbon black recovered from end-of-life tires, is an important step for us towards more circular business practices in our tire production. Sustainable alternatives have an impact on today's material flows. Quality assurance and upscaling require close coordination between suppliers and manufacturers.
Dr. Hubert Hirschlag | Head Raw Material Introduction, Continental Tires
Current and future outlook of end-of-life tire management, how the EU regulatory stage is changing (including Ecodesign and End of Waste) and its influence on tire circularity
Alex van Gelderen | Senior Manager ELT and Circular Economy, European Tyre and Rubber Manufacturers’ Association (ETRMA)
Networking break
SESSION 4 - CHARACTERISATION & PROCESS IMPROVEMENT
ASH!
In respect of rCB, the word ‘ash’ always seems to be greeted with a level of fear and condescension that should only be muttered in dark abandoned rooms through fear of evoking the awareness of downstream users. Clearly ash is an important parameter when considering the properties of an rCB and, rightly so, forms part of the proposed ASTM classification system. However, there is another property that poses a greater technical challenge to large-scale adoption. This paper will demonstrate how the ash content of an rCB is controlled though both feedstock selection and pyrolysis process conditions using three distinct cases (all at constant particle size of d97 = 10µm and toluene transmission of 95+%): 1. Truck derived rCB of very low carbonaceous residue content and ash content <20%. 2. Car derived rCB of very low carbonaceous residue content and ash content ~30%. 3. Car derived rCB of high carbonaceous residue content and ash content <20%. In-rubber data conclusively shows that inactive carbonaceous residue reduces the filler-polymer interaction and thus ability to reinforce rubber formulations to a greater extent than ash. It is also shown that, in the absence of carbonaceous residue, the silica component of rCB remains active and can be coupled with silane to boost reinforcing behavior, i.e., ash offers a benefit for certain applications. Finally, a novel method for quantifying carbonaceous residues will be presented.
Dr. Chris Norris | Technical Director, Murfitts Industries
Single-particle TGA – a new tool to measure the distribution of ash in rCB
The ash (silica, zinc sulfide, …) is a characteristic component of rCB. There is evidence that the ash is heterogeneously distributed amongst the rCB particles. Small particles appear to be ash-free and consist mostly of carbon. With increasing aggregate size, the ash content seems to increase. To prove this hypothesis, we designed a “single particle TGA” experiment. 1) the rCB powder is dispersed and deagglomerated in air, 2) the particles are size selected and 3) sent through a tube furnace (400 to 1000°C) to burn-off the carbon while 4) the particle mass is constantly detected. For example, a 100 nm particle burns almost completely and, therefore, has less than 1% ash content. An rCB aggregate with a 400nm diameter has a mass of 18 fg (10^-15 g / femtogram); after the combustion, the mass is reduced to 2.2 fg, resulting in an ash content of 12%. The first goal of such a “single particle TGA” is to measure the ash distribution within the rCB and improve our understanding of the new material. A second goal is to use this information to improve material quality. For example, milling predominantly grinds down large (=ash-rich) particles and, therefore, distributes the ash evenly in the rCB-matrix. In contrast, mechanical separation can effectively reduce the ash content. To model such an operation, particle size and mass distributions, as well as the aerodynamic diameter, are required, which are also obtained.
Dr. Franz Friebel | Founder and CEO, femtoG
Pyrolysis of acetylene black containing rubber – how good is the reclaimed filler?
Acetylene black is a unique carbon black which is applied in important products such as extra high voltage cables, batteries including electrical vehicle batteries and rubber goods that require high thermal conductivity like curing bladders. Consumption of acetylene black is expected to increase in line with the rise in production of lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles around the world. Unlike most rubber blacks, which are synthesized using the widely used furnace black process, acetylene black is produced at very high temperatures by using acetylene gas as a starting material. This leads to interesting properties such as high crystallinity and low surface porosity. The lecture will present findings from the pyrolysis of acetylene black-rich compounds. Curing bladders are a common auxiliary in the manufacturing of tires and can contain higher concentrations of acetylene black. A shredded butyl bladder model rubber was chosen as starting material for the pyrolysis reaction and a pyrolysis reactor which can be used in the recycling of end-of-life-tires (ELT) was utilized. The obtained black material was milled and analyzed. A subsequent mixing study revealed that the recovered reinforcing filler can impart promising physical properties to butyl rubber.
Dr. Hauke Westenberg | Senior Research Specialist Rubber, Orion Engineered Carbons GmbH
The Solvolysis process, a promising technology for recovering used tires
IFPEN and Axens have joined forces to develop an innovative process for recovering used tires based on solvolysis. In this process, the aggregates are brought into contact with a liquid solvent generated in situ and exposed to mild conditions that allows the polymers to be converted. Under these conditions, product degradation is limited and it is possible to recover recover carbon black and a high yield from a solvolysis oil while minimizing the quantity of incondensable gases formed. IFP Energies nouvelles (IFPEN), a major player in research in the fields of energy, transport and the environment, carried out pilot batch and continuous tests on real loads to assess and optimize process yields as a function of operating conditions, produce samples of carbon black and solvolysis oil, analyze them, qualify the uses of these products with potential users and model the process. The possibility of operating the process continuously on a large scale (up to 90 kta), combined with the production of more and better quality liquid oils, makes solvolysis a highly promising alternative to conventional pyrolysis processes. Axens, with its experience of more than 3,000 industrial units under license, is carrying out the industrialization study in order to refine the economic and environmental foundations of the process.
Jean-Philippe Toupance | Principal Technology Engineer, Axens
Recovered carbon black from waste tire rubber via the use of a mild oxidizing agent in an aqueous medium
Recovered carbon black derived from End-of-Life (EOL) tires presents a significant industry
opportunity to reduce waste and promote a sustainable and circular economy. Today, virtually all recovered carbon black is produced through the pyrolysis of EOL tires. However, researchers have been developing alternative methods for recovering carbon black from waste tires using depolymerization and devulcanization. Arduro has developed a means of selective chemical devulcanization using an aqueous chloramine solution that breaks the sulfur crosslinks in rubber and releases carbon black from the rubber matrix. Micronized rubber from EOL tires were treated with aqueous chloramine below 100°C at ambient pressure to create a devulcanized rubber slurry. The devulcanized rubber slurry consists of high molecular weight devulcanized rubber, carbon black, and other elements of the rubber compound. The carbon black was then recovered from the slurry using post-reactor separation operations. The recovered carbon black (ELDARIX R1000) was tested by a third-party laboratory to validate its performance in rubber. The laboratory used ASTM methods to compare the performance of two EPDM samples, one with a 25% ELDARIX / 75% virgin N660 carbon black loading and the other with 100% virgin N660 carbon black. The results indicate there is no significant decrease in performance when
partially loading with ELDARIX. An independent life cycle analysis found that a small industrial plant utilising the chloramine-devulcanisation chemistry would reduce carbon dioxide emissions by about 50% when compared to the combustion of rubber for energy or drying. Further, a renewable electric
grid would reduce total carbon dioxide emissions by about 75% in the same comparison.
Ian Byberg | Sales Engineer, Arduro
Networking lunch
SESSION 5 - INNOVATION AND THE PROMISE OF R&D
Improvements of rCB consistency through R&D and pyrolysis optimization
•    Case studies highlighting the direct impact of selected pyrolysis and finishing process parameters on rCB quality
•    Latest data on how dispersion of rCB influences in-rubber performance 
•    What needs to be controlled at each specific step, and how is it reflected in rCB quality?
Krzysztof Wróblewski | CEO, Contec
Understanding carbonaceous deposits and their effect on rCB
The widespread application of recovered carbon black in new tires has never become reality due to the well-recognised reinforcement differences between virgin and recovered carbon black in new rubber formulations. The reason for this difference has not been clearly identified, although the carbonaceous deposits which have been observed on the surface of the fundamental particles of the (virgin) carbon black are thought to be a contributing factor. There is a poor understanding around these deposits and their form and role. This presentation will discuss their origins, the consequences of the deposits on the properties and behaviour of the rCb in a rubber mix and what steps could be taken during the production/recovery of the carbon black to mitigate the problems identified and thus enable a more effective and usable (recovered) carbon black to be prepared.
Dr. Geoff Fowler | Senior Research Fellow, EWRE Laboratory Manager, Imperial College London
Strategies for upgrading raw rCB based on latest post-processing experimental results
It has been recognised that raw RCB (RRCB) needs to be upgraded in order to improve its properties as a substitute for virgin CB. This work presents experimental results of the effect of: 
i) milling (physical upgrading using a ball mill),
ii) reprocessing (post-heating) to remove organic residues derived from unconverted rubber, condensed oil and/or coke formed,
iii) reprocessing plus milling, 
on the main properties of the RRCB produced in a pilot pyrolysis plant continuous single-auger of 4 kg/h. The resulting samples derived from these processes were also subjected to demineralisation (chemical upgrading) using HNO3. The RRCB before and after upgrading was also studied as a substitute for virgin CB, and some in-rubber properties were also elucidated. Best practices for RRCB post-processing are therefore recommended based on these critical results.
Dr. Ramón Murillo | Research Professor, Instituto de de Carboquímica (ICB), Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
rCB – solutions for profitable processes
Recycling of recovered Carbon Black (rCB) black includes the pyrolysis of tires or tire shreds. This process yields coarse rCB, which must be ground down to a fineness between 4 and 40 µm (d97) for further use. An efficient grinding process with high throughputs therefore increases the value of rCB. However, it has become evident that the desired fineness has a significant impact on energy demand and throughput of the back-end process and thus on operational expenditures. Small values for the d97 lead to high energy consumption and low throughput. For a profitable process, it is therefore vital to match the fineness of the rCB product with the customer’s demand and requirements. Case studies show that while some specifications demand a fineness down to 4 µm, a fineness of 7-8 µm or even coarser suffices for most applications. Hence, energy demand in the back-end process can be significantly reduced at increased throughputs. The presentation will show a proven back-end process using an impact classifier mill with an integrated classification process, which can easily be adapted to changing requirements due to different feed stock and desired final product specifications. Furthermore, an analysis of a comprehensive approach of rCB grinding and pelletizing will be shown, with focus on both the quality of the final product as well as the economy of process steps between the discharge of pyrolysis char down to high quality, fine ground, pelletized and packed rCB.
Dr. Daniel Karhoff | Research & Development Engineer, Neuman & Esser
Building an industrial supply chain for recycled raw materials
  • Deploying commercial sized plant
  • Building a new industrial supply chain
  • Securing financing through an infrastructure business model
  • Local solutions, global impact

Stefano Madeddu | CEO, Infiniteria
Chair’s closing remarks
End of conference

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