Orion partners with RISE to produce renewable carbon black at commercial scale

Orion Engineered Carbons announced today it has partnered with RISE Research Institutes of Sweden in a project to develop and produce renewable carbon black. Under the collaboration, traditional carbon black feedstock will be replaced with pyrolysis oil from biomass oil to produce a carbon-neutral carbon black. Orion plans to test the process using its small-scale furnace reactor in Kalscheuren, Germany and will explore ways to upscale the process to match market demands. Additionally, using a pilot-scale reactor at its site in Piteå, Sweden, RISE will evaluate the use of electrofuels, such as plasma or hydrogen from electrolysis, as sustainable heat sources for the carbon black process. According to the press release, RISE has already shown that it could be economically feasible to produce carbon black using pyrolysis oil from wood-derived feedstock. Orion’s project goal is to validate commercial production based on this research.