According to the United Nations, world population is projected to reach 8.5 billion by 2030. Studies show that 60% of the population will live in cities by that time. The population growth creates a significant amount of new consumers entering the global market every year buying new products and competing for finite resources. According to a McKinsey Study, the situation is already affecting the demand for cars: the number of vehicles in the world is expected to double by 2030. And the demand will impact all supply chain. Global market for tires is projected to reach 2.5 billion units by 2020.

Carbon black is an important commodity used to produce many products, including tires and other car accessories. Its market volume will increase to more than 15 million tons by 2022. Demand for commodity products will be driven mostly by growth in consumer demand. This growth will cause shortages in commodity products. According to recent market studies, it is estimated that by 2018 demand for carbon black will outpace supply. These supply shortages will create demand for recycled carbon black.

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Carbon black is an essential raw material for the production of new vehicles. Car needs tires. Carbon black is used as a strengthening agent for tire and rubber products and also as a coloring agent for ink, paints and plastics.

Traditionally, carbon black has been used as a reinforcing agent in tires. Today, because of its unique properties, the uses of carbon black have expanded to include pigmentation, ultraviolet (UV) stabilization and conductive agents in a variety of everyday and specialty high performance products, including plastics, electrostatic discharge (ESD) compounds, high performance coatings, toners and printing inks.

Manufacturers that use carbon black as a feedstock are currently facing the challenge of addressing climate change concerns and adopting new initiatives to produce greener products. According to The Guardian, producing a medium-sized new car, for example, may generate more than 17 tons of CO – almost as much as three years’ worth of gas and electricity in the typical UK home.

The current global context is driving even more action. Under the Paris Agreement, governments have pledged to limit global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) and to “pursue efforts” to limit warming to 1.5 degrees. Each country must come up with detailed plans to reduce emissions, which will be reviewed every five years starting in 2023. All those agreements will impact on how companies are planning to fulfill demand in a sustainable way, minimizing their impact.

Recycled carbon black: addressing environmental concerns

A green solution with a lower carbon footprint is needed to address this global challenge. For this reason, it is time to change the way we treat waste. Society needs to recycle and reuse commodities wisely.

Clean technologies, such as Ecolomondo’s Thermal Decomposition Process (TDP), are able to offer an efficient alternative. TDP decomposes and recycles hydrocarbon waste and transform it into renewed products. For example, using scrap tire waste as feedstock, TDP yields end-products of marketable quality such as recycled carbon black, oil, gas and steel. The technology allows its entire reactor payload to be completely recycled while leaving little or no residue and with little impact on the environmental footprint.

Current disposal methods for tires and other types of hydrocarbon waste are, now, only destroying those resources. Recycled carbon black resulting from TDP`s process is a high-quality product, pollution-free and improves global carbon footprint.

Tire waste as feedstock is globally available and collection is well organized in many countries. Also, tipping fees and carbon credits are encouraging recycling initiatives.

To reuse carbon black and other commodities is also cheaper for the industries, as you can see here.

Be also part of the solution. Recycling carbon black and other commodities will be crucial to ensure future sustainability. Follow us on Linkedin to be constantly updated.