Carbon black: Production route
From oil furnaces to plasma and recycled tyres
What this tab covers How it is made: the main production routes or, for product families, the main product types and technologies, compared on share of supply, inputs per tonne, plant scale, yield, co-products and unit cost.The oil furnace process makes the vast majority of carbon black. Thermal black (from natural gas cracking without air), acetylene black (from acetylene decomposition) and lamp black are small specialty routes. Two newer routes aim at lower carbon: recovered carbon black (rCB) from pyrolysing end-of-life tyres, and methane pyrolysis using plasma or heat, which splits natural gas into carbon black and hydrogen (Monolith in Nebraska, which signed a supply agreement with Goodyear in 2021).
Routes compared
| Route | Share of supply | Inputs per tonne | Typical scale | Yield | Co-products | Unit cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oil furnace process | about 95% or more (indicative) | about 1.6-2.0 t feedstock oil and some natural gas per t (indicative) | plants of 50-300 kt/yr; PCBL sites 93-205 kt/yr | about 50-65% of feedstock carbon (indicative) | tail gas used for steam and electricity | feedstock oil is about 60-70% of cash cost (indicative) |
| Thermal and acetylene black | a few per cent (indicative) | not published | small, specialty plants | not published | hydrogen | higher than furnace black |
| Recovered carbon black (tyre pyrolysis) | below 1% (indicative) | about 2.5-3 t tyres per t rCB (indicative) | Enviro's plant 9 kt/yr (2019) | about 35-40% of tyre weight as char (indicative) | pyrolysis oil (about 40%), gas, steel | not published |
| Methane pyrolysis (plasma) | pilot to first commercial scale | about 1.33 t methane per t carbon plus electricity (stoichiometric) | Monolith Olive Creek, Nebraska (size not checked) | high on carbon | hydrogen, about 0.33 t per t carbon | not published; depends on power and hydrogen value |
How each route works
Oil furnace processAromatic oil is injected into a refractory-lined reactor fired by natural gas or tail gas. Partial combustion and cracking form carbon particles whose size and structure are set by temperature, residence time and additives. The tail gas fuels boilers; modern plants export power (PCBL runs about 84 MW of captive power).
flexible grades, low cost; CO2, SO2 and NOx emissions
PCBL investor presentation 2021; indicative Thermal and acetylene blackNatural gas or acetylene is cracked in the absence of air in cyclic or continuous reactors, giving large-particle thermal black (for seals and wire) or very pure, highly conductive acetylene black (batteries, cables).
high purity and conductivity; niche
indicative Recovered carbon black (tyre pyrolysis)Shredded end-of-life tyres are heated without air; the char is milled and refined to rCB, alongside pyrolysis oil and gas. Quality is lower than virgin hard grades, so rCB is blended at partial loadings.
79-84% lower CO2 than virgin (IVL/Enviro LCA, 2019); ash and quality limits
Enviro press release, Mar 2019 (IVL LCA); indicative Methane pyrolysis (plasma)Natural gas is split by plasma or heat into solid carbon and hydrogen with no direct CO2. The carbon is sold as carbon black and the hydrogen as fuel or for ammonia.
near-zero direct CO2; needs cheap clean power and a hydrogen buyer
Monolith website; Biofuels Digest on Monolith-Goodyear agreement (2021) Unit economics are indicative ranges from the sources named; costs move with feedstock and energy prices, plant size and region.