Continental Carbon, US tire recycler in 'sustainable' carbon black link-up

Boulder, Colorado – US tire recycling business Bolder Industries and carbon black manufacturer Continental Carbon Co. (CCC) have entered into an agreement to commercialise the production of ‘sustainable’ carbon black products for the rubber & plastics industry. 

Through the partnership, the companies will launch a sustainable blend of CCC’s carbon black grades incorporating Bolder’s recovered carbon black materials, BolderBlack, Bolder announced 17 Nov.

The collaboration will see the use of Bolder's carbon black alternatives in CCC’s virgin grades N550, N650, N660, N762, and N774 and will provide customers pre-blended fillers customised at various ratios.

The blends will also offer customers with measurable environmental sustainability benefits, according to Bolder.

Based in Boulder, Colorado, Bolder operates a tire shredding and pyrolysis facility in Maryville, Missouri, and is currently expanding the cite to increase processing capacity nearly times.

The company also announced in late October that it was merging with publicly-traded company GigCapital2 and will, as a result be listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

The merger, according to founder and CEO Tony Wibbeler, will provide the capital required to meet the demand created by the CCC partnership.

"We have always believed in partnering with the traditional carbon black manufacturers to support the end customer,” said Wibbeler 

Through the partnership, said the CEO, Bolder can provide “a unique solution” to tire companies and industrial rubber goods manufacturers at a large scale.

Commenting on the partnership, CCC president Dennis Hetu said the move was “an important step toward a more profitable and sustainable future for the rubber and plastics industry.” 

The collaboration, he said, allows CCC to offer soft-grade blends into “a marketplace that desperately needs to provide a closed-loop solution.” 

Citing its own studies, Bolder claims that the incorporation of its BolderBlack in a blend of N762 at 20% does not have any physical properties variation beyond the accepted measurement tolerance. 

A 3% blend of the material, according to Bolder, can potentially result in a reduction of 3 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions, saving of 9 billion gallons of water as well as a 1-billion-kWh reduction in electricity consumption.