Ahead of the 2019 Recovered Carbon Black we caught up with our event partner and speaker, Martin von Wolfersdorff, Principal Advisor from Wolfersdorff Consulting to find out more about his presentation, industry insights, challenges and the importance of the conference.
Recovered Carbon Black - can you share any market insights relating to this sector?
Yes, the last year has been very dynamic with high interest from investors (for example tire service companies like QuickFit and Stapletons were very active in their recycling endeavours) and also high interest from potential customers of recovered carbon black (both tire and non-tire). And yet, the availability of recovered carbon black is faint in the western world. Under 1% of the US and European ELTs are recycled by pyrolysis. It is a tremendous market opportunity.
What do you see as the biggest challenge industry are facing at the moment?
The biggest challenge in the industry is not necessarily technical. It is in lining up all the success factors, from feedstock control, over process control and to market understanding and then scaling up the business and starting the cash flow engine. Quite a few ventures are trapped in vicious circles when they seek investment!
Recovered Carbon Black- this is the first event of its kind. In your view, why is such an event needed and important?
Recovered Carbon Black lines up the whole value chain and will have over 100 participants from all over the world. It is a true one-stop shop for the tire pyrolysis value chain and for everybody interested in recovered carbon black (and also tire pyrolysis oil!).
Are there any sessions within the agenda that you are particularly interested in attending?
Well, I helped setting the agenda, so I think that there is something for everyone in the industry. I personally think that the opening sustainability session with tire and rubber companies is superb and also the innovation forum right at the end of the event where we will discuss future technologies like activation, ash extraction and microwave pyrolysis.
