Phillips Carbon Black commissions new production facility

Kolkata, India – Phillips Carbon Black Ltd (PCBL) has commissioned the first phase of a greenfield carbon black plant in Chennai, Tamil Nadu.

Phase I of the project at the southern Indian site has the nameplate production capacity of 63 kilotonnes per annum (ktpa), the company said 17 April.

Upon completion of all phases, the plant will have a production capacity of 147ktpa, supported by 24 MW of 'green' power, added PCBL.

The “state-of-the-art” facility, it stated, is based on Industry 4.0 standards and is aimed at strengthening the company’s position as “a global player”.

PCBL unveiled the Rs6 billion (€67 million) project in 2021, saying the plant would manufacture ‘various grades of rubber and speciality carbon blacks’.

The Chennai unit is the latest in a series of expansion projects undertaken by the India-based carbon black manufacturer.

In 2020, PCBL added two speciality carbon production lines at its facility in Palej with a combined capacity of 30ktpa.

In 2019, the supplier expanded production at its brownfield unit in Mundra, Gujarat by 50ktpa.

In addition, PCBL's innovation centre in Belgium became operational in summer 2020, strengthening the company’s R&D capabilities.

PCBL is understood to be India's largest carbon black producer: with now around 630ktpa of capacity, followed by Birla Carbon, with about 310ktpa.