Orion starts new technical rubber, specialty black lines in Korea

Luxembourg – Orion Engineered Carbons SA has completed the construction and upgrading of two production lines for speciality and technical rubber carbon blacks at its Yeosu, South Korea site, the company announced 7 Dec.

The projects were both part of Orion’s strategy to transition to “higher value-added products” for speciality and technically demanding rubber applications.

According to the carbon black producer, the plant has recently completed a repurposing of a tire-rubber carbon black line to a technical rubber carbon black production line. The line is now back in commercial production.

The new speciality black line also started production and commercial sales 23 Nov.

“This new line in Yeosu will produce premium grades of speciality carbon black for demanding customer applications such as automotive coatings, engineered plastics, printing inks and adhesives & sealants,” said Jack Clem, Orion’s chief executive officer.

The projects are major components of Orion’s consolidation plan for its Bupyeong (Incheon) facility into the Yeosu site.

The company announced last November that it was closing down a 45-kilotonne-per-annum (ktpa) carbon black facility in Bupyeong and transferring production capacity to Yeosu.

The consolidation is expected be completed by July 2018.

Orion said in April 2016 that it was shifting production to more speciality carbon black products for plastics and printing applications, and to more technically unique rubber black grades, including those sold to the mechanical rubber goods industry.