Continental Carbon parent says new capacity to cover US carbon black closure

Taipei – Taipei-based China Synthetic Rubber Corp. (CSRC), the parent company of Continental Carbon, is adjusting its carbon black production network to compensate for the year-end closure of a facility in the US.

In a statement 14 Dec 2022, CSRC confirmed plans to "temporarily suspend operations" at the Phenix, Alabama facility by the end of last year, as it had not met regulatory upgrade requirements to reduce emissions from the site.

It was estimated that the company would need to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in environmental protection measures at the Phenix plant, according to the CSRC statement. 

Costs, it added, were inflated by delays around the construction schedule as well as continuously rising prices for materials on international markets.

Meanwhile, the operating return rate was “not in line with the benefits” and as a result upgrades will not be carried out at the site, the group added.

With the closure, CSRC said demand in the North American market will be supplemented by Continental Carbon's other US plants: in Ponca City, Okalahoma, and Sunray, Texas.

According to CSRC, the Phenix plant accounted for 30% of Continental Carbon’s output in the US.

“But there is still room for improvement in the capacity utilisation rates of the Ponca and the Sunray plant,” its statement added.

Therefore, after optimising the production efficiency of the two remaining plants, the impact on the North American operations “will not be large”, stated CSRC.

At the same time, CSRC said it will enhance its global supply-chain with its recently opened facility in India, and an under-construction plant in Turkey.

The group is reorganising its supply-chain in the face of geographical developments and is focusing on ‘gradual expansion’ in Turkey and India.

The Indian plant, in Jirat, was started up last October, becoming the company’s second production base in the country in addition to a Delhi unit.

In Iskenderun on Turkey's Mediterranean coast, CSRC expects to complete that country’s first ever carbon black plant in a joint investment with industrial group OYAK in 2024.

The two plants have a combined production capacity of 300 kilotonnes per annum (ktpa) and will mainly serve European and Asian markets.