A fortnight ago, BKT announced its aim of increasing production by around 67% and achieving an annual turnover of US$2 billion in 3 years. The company’s Bhuj facility in western India is key to these plans and will soon manufacture numerous new products, including off-highway truck tyres, agro-forestry radials, tracks and an expanded mining tyre portfolio. BKT shares news of these and other plans.
LD Carbon is on the brink of closing a 10-year tyre pyrolysis oil contract with a South Korean oil firm. Tyres & Accessories understands that the 10-year deal will be worth around $25 million a year, making the whole contract worth around $250 million.
Balkrishna Industries Ltd. has completed a project to increase carbon black capacity in Bhuj, India and set up a new power plant at the site. It says both the 55,000 tonnes per annum carbon black capacity project and the power plant project were concluded on 31 December 2022.
During the Smithers Recovered Carbon Black conference, which took place in Berlin in November, Bridgestone and Michelin jointly shared the results of efforts to develop a global standard to increase the utilisation of recovered carbon black in tyres. Click here to read or download Bridgestone and Michelin’s rCB grades and specifications proposal presentation.
Tyre recycling and reprocessing specialist Murfitts Industries announced today its intention to form a “unique partnership” with French engineering group ETIA. The aim of this partnership is to deliver commercial-scale solutions for recycling end-of-life tyres to recover their raw material and energy content.
To meet growing demand for mining tyre recycling and recycled rubber products, specifically carbon black and rCB, Kal Tire’s Mining Tire Group and Mitsui & Co. have entered into a joint venture commercialise the Kal Tire thermal conversion recycling facility in Chile from early 2023. Activities there will act as a “foundation” as the venture pursues “opportunities to bring OTR tyre recycling solutions to mining regions around the world.”
Anyone wanting to learn more about carbon black and its many applications can now do so at the new Birla Carbon virtual showroom. Claimed as an industry first, the site offers a virtual reality experience that takes viewers through the intricate uses of each part of a car and employs an immersive experience to showcase how carbon black can make a difference to the solutions it is part of. Birla Carbon aims for the virtual showroom to be a “one-stop shop experience for the entire value chain of carbon black solutions.”
During the recent Tire Cologne event, Tyres & Accessories met with Hankook Europe’s top management including president and chief operating officer Sanghoon Lee; Dietmar Olbrich, vice president of marketing and sales at Hankook Germany; Byung Ryong Lee, vice president of marketing strategy in Europe; Guy Heywood, vice president sales, marketing and business strategy for truck and bus tyres in Europe; vice president of European Technical Centre, Klaus Krause; Massimo Cialone, chief specialist for compounding and materials.
Birla Carbon has been awarded a Platinum level rating by EcoVadis for sustainability. This recognition confirms Birla Carbon’s position as an industry leader in advanced sustainability practices and reporting and places it in the top 1 per cent of companies rated by EcoVadis. The rating was provided after reviewing Birla Carbon’s sustainability practices in its recently published ninth sustainability report, Driving Circularity.
Carlton Forest reports that it has begun a cold testing phase at what it refers to as “the UK’s first continuous pyrolysis plant” located at the company’s Worksop site. That announcement, which was published on 13 May 2022, will be followed by “full operation launch” later in May.
Michelin has produced a new version of its motorcycle racing tyre with an even higher share of environmentally sustainable material ahead of the MotoE World Cup motorcycle racing series. This is the fourth season of the MotoE World Cup electric motorcycles racing series.
Michelin Group has reported that its first quarter 2022 sales amounted to 6.5 billion euros, a 19 per cent increase on the first quarter of 2021. According to the company, price increases and strengthening replacement demand helped it offset headwinds including operation disruptions and inflationary pressures exacerbated by the conflict in Ukraine plus the resurgence of Covid-19 in China.
With its acquisition of Trinseo’s rubber production plants in Schkopau, Germany late last year, Polish firm Synthos has also taken on the minority stake in Swiss start-up Tyre Recycling Solutions (TRS) that Trinseo held. It reports that its collaboration with TRS is now “progressing according to plan.”
Following the fire that destroyed its first pilot plant in February 2019 and hurled the company into operational and financial difficulties, in May 2021 Black Bear Carbon announced plans to build a new flagship plant within the Chemelot Industrial Park in Limburg, the Netherlands. The company took a further step towards realising its plan on 23 March when visiting the Chemelot site with potential investor NEOS Direct Lending.
Birla Carbon
Tyre Industry Publications Ltd
Carlton Forest
Michelin
Michelin; Jefferies