Last week at the Tire Technology Expo in Hannover, Cabot Corporation launched EVOLVE™ Sustainable Solutions -- a new technology platform for sustainable reinforcing carbons. A multimedia presentation is available here. The products are designed to offer sustainable content and reliable performance at industrial scale, according to Cabot. Under the project, Cabot has launched two new products that will be sold as the company’s first-ever International Sustainability & Carbon Certification (ISCC PLUS) certified solutions. ISCC is a globally applicable certification system designed to ensure compliance with ecological and social requirements, greenhouse gas emissions savings and traceability. Mass balance accounting is a chain of custody approach designed to trace the flow of materials through a complex value chain, including recycled feedstock at plants.
The EVOLVE line includes carbon products in three categories:
Recovered: Reinforcing carbons from circular value chains that are produced using materials recovered from end-of-life-tires, such as tire pyrolysis oils through an ISCC PLUS mass balance approach or reclaimed carbons co-pelletized with virgin carbon blacks.
Renewable: Reinforcing carbons made from renewable materials, such as bio-based feedstocks through an ISCC PLUS mass balance approach and from bio-based particles.
Reduced: Reinforcing carbons made with a reduced GHG footprint from decarbonization technologies, such as emissions capture technologies and other decarbonization processes such as CO2 capture and sequestration.
Cabot has launched two new products under the Recovered category:
VULCAN 7H-C circular reinforcing carbon is a reinforcing material made from ISCC PLUS certified tire pyrolysis oil derived from end-of-life tires. It offers drop-in performance comparable to VULCAN 7H carbon black or ASTM N234 carbon black for applications including tire treads and industrial rubber products that require excellent wear resistance, such as conveyor belts.
STERLING SO-RC110 circular reinforcing carbon is a semi-reinforcing material containing 10% recovered carbon material co-pelletized with STERLING SO carbon black. It offers performance comparable to ASTM N550 carbon black. Applications include the sidewalls and under tread compounds in passenger car and light truck tires as well as industrial rubber products such as rubber hoses, construction profiles, engine mounts and belt inner layers.
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This is an impressive initiative. I knew that Cabot was working on a program related to carbon black sustainability, but this project goes beyond what I expected. To my knowledge, Cabot currently is the only carbon black producer to offer both a recovered/virgin CB blended product as well as virgin material produced from TPO feedstocks. Not to mention the use of bio-based feedstocks and grades offering reduced GHG footprints. Good stuff, and much needed as tire companies strive to meet their sustainability goals. I have lots of questions but I'm sure there will be much more information to come. Martin Wolfersdorff's take is here.