# Carbon black

Carbon black is nearly pure carbon made by burning heavy oil in a starved flame; it reinforces tyres and colours plastics and inks.

Source page: https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/carbon_black/

Commodity chemicals · Other inorganics · No. 10

- Single chemical
- Feedstock: Oil, gas or coal
- about 13-14 Mt a year (2024, indicative: 17.5 Mt capacity at about 75-80% utilisation)
- 2.4 t CO₂e per t
- HS 280300
 Commodity chemicals · Other inorganics · Foundation · Matter

Your tyres are black because they are packed with soot made by half-burning heavy oil, and it makes them last far longer.

Chart: Illustration: Carbon black

##### Where it comes from

Chart: Map of where it comes from

Heavy aromatic oil from refineries or coke ovens is sprayed into a gas flame with too little air, cracking into carbon particles of 10-100 nanometres.

##### Three things to know

1. Cabot, Birla Carbon and Orion together held about 32% of the world's 17.5 Mt capacity in 2021.
2. India exported $475 million of carbon black in 2024, second only to China, and PCBL aims for 1 Mt capacity by FY2027-28.
3. Swapping virgin black for black recovered from old tyres saves about 1.4-2.0 kg CO2 per kilogram.

##### The journey

1. 1 **Heavy oil**Refinery decant oil or coal tar
2. 2 **Furnace reactor**Sprayed into a starved flame, 1,400-1,800 C
3. 3 **Quench and filter**Water stops reaction; bag filters collect
4. 4 **Pelletising**Fluffy black turned into handy beads
5. 5 **Compounding**Mixed into tyre and rubber compounds
 Covered in [Colour and protection: dyes, pigments, paints and coatingsChemicals](https://www.materialinsights.org/learn/chemicals/dyes-pigments-coatings/)

##### Go deeper pick a tab to open it in full

## Other sections

- [Overview](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/carbon_black/overview/index.md)
- [Correlation](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/carbon_black/correlation/index.md)
- [Production route](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/carbon_black/routes/index.md)
- [Production](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/carbon_black/production/index.md)
- [Feedstocks](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/carbon_black/feedstocks/index.md)
- [Cycles](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/carbon_black/cycles/index.md)
- [Trading](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/carbon_black/trading/index.md)
- [Movement](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/carbon_black/movement/index.md)
- [Regulation](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/carbon_black/regulation/index.md)
- [Characteristics](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/carbon_black/characteristics/index.md)
- [Emissions](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/carbon_black/emissions/index.md)
- [Relationships](https://www.materialinsights.org/chemicals/carbon_black/links/index.md)