Indian coal tar derivatives producer Epsilon Carbon Private Ltd. has commissioned an integrated carbon black manufacturing complex located in Bellary, Karnataka, southern India. The $73 million plant has a production capacity of 115,000 metric tons per year and is already running close to full capacity, according to a July 7 company statement. The new facility started up in January 2021 and produces both hard and soft grades of carbon blacks for tires, non-tire rubber, and plastics. The backwardly integrated plant uses anthracene oil generated at the company’s 220,000-ton coal tar distillation facility at the same site as feedstock. The sulfur content of the captive feedstock is 0.3% to 0.5%, compared to about 3% for typical high sulfur feedstock.
Epsilon Carbon has earmarked $47 million more to expand its coal tar distillation capacity by 65,000 tons per year and carbon black production by 185,000 tons per year in the coming years. Described by the company as first-of-its-kind in India, the integrated carbon facility uses waste coke oven gas from the steel plant as a fuel, while the tail-gas from the carbon black unit is fed back to the steel complex for pre-heating operations. The new plant also incorporates scrubbers to reduce SOx/NOx and CO2 emissions.
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