Mitsubishi Chemical to commercialise tire-driven carbon black production by 2026

Tokyo – Mitsubishi Chemical Group (MCG) has launched a series of studies on the chemical recycling of end-of-life tires (ELTs), using coke ovens at its Kagawa plant, in Sakaide City, Japan.

As part of the project to produce ‘sustainable carbon black’, the Japanese group carried out demonstration experiments in July where ELTs were fed into its coke ovens.

In a 22 Aug statement, MCG aimed to sell sustainable carbon black at an annual rate of “several thousand tonnes” in fiscal year 2025 (starting March 2026).

The production capacity is then expected to expand to “an annual rate of tens of thousands of tonnes in fiscal 2030,” the group added.

The Tokyo-based group said the project was launched in response to “a growing need to use recycled carbon black” in the tire industry.

The group said it will be 'leveraging its supply chain' to feed crumb rubber from ELTs as raw material into its coke ovens and produce carbon black again from the tar.

According to the group, this is the first attempt globally to produce sustainable carbon black from ELTs using coke ovens.

The recovered carbon black produced in the process has “the same performance as conventional carbon black” and can be used in the production of new tires, MCG added.