Notch: Continental Carbon plant 'set to close by year-end'

London – Continental Carbon is set to close its carbon black production facility in Phenix City, Alabama, after failing to fulfil environmental-upgrade requirements at the plant.

In a report 15 Dec, US consultancy Notch said the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) had refused to grant an extension or grace period for the carbon black maker to upgrade emissions controls at the Alabama plant.

“This means that, barring some further development, the factory will cease operations by 1 Jan 2023,” according to Notch, which specialises in analysing developments in the global carbon black market.

Continental Carbon signed a ‘consent decree’ in 2015, which was later modified in 2017, to upgrade its three production facilities in the US to meet EPA clean air standards.

At the time, the company agreed a settlement under which it would invest $98 million (€89m) to reduce the environmental impact of its carbon black facilities.

The manufacturer has already completed related upgrade projects at its facilities in Sunray, Texas and Ponca City, Oklahoma.

According to Notch, the Alabama facility has 90 kilotonnes per annum (ktpa) of capacity for production of tire tread grades of carbon black.

However, it added, the plant had been operating at partial capacity over the recent years, so that closure would remove about 40-50ktpa of supply from the US carbon black market.

ERJ has requested information from Continental Carbon about this development.