China’s Black Cat progresses 'wet-mixing' reinforced rubber project

Chaoyang, China - Chinese carbon black major Jiangxi Black Cat Carbon Black Co. has progressed the construction of a Yuan688 million (€88 million) project to scale up a new technology to produce rubber composite masterbatches.

Black Cat subsidiary Liaoning Black Cat Composite New Materials Technology Co. has now completed 80% of the civil engineering work on the project, Chaoyang regional government reported.

The unit is designed to have the capacity to produce 160 kilotonnes per annum (ktpa) of rubber composite masterbatches once fully operational.

According to the local government’s website, the main structure of the power distribution room and latex warehouse for the rubber production workshop are now installed.

Located at the Chaoyang high-tech industrial development zone, the facility will house eight production lines, with 20ktpa capacity each.

In the first phase, one production line will be built, to be followed by three production lines in the second phase and four lines in the third phase.

As previously reported by ERJ, the project is based on a joint research completed between Black Cat and a research team from Beijing University of Chemical Technology in 2022.

As part of the R&D project, the developers built and brought into operation a 4ktpa pilot production line in Qingdao in October 2022.

The wet-mixing technology, according to Black Cat, significantly improves dispersion of carbon black in rubber and improves overall performance of the masterbatch.

Furthermore, the process is also said to reduce hysteresis loss and rolling resistance, and enhance abrasion resistance of the masterbatch.

According to Black Cat, wet masterbatch has already been used in the production of off-road tires.

The company expects the products to be further used particularly in truck & bus tires and 'speciality' tires.