Recently, the authoritative consulting agency Emerton released a report titled "Unlocking the Potential of Recycled Carbon Black," deeply analyzing the significant market potential of recycled carbon black (rCB) as a substitute for traditional furnace carbon black and emphasizing its crucial role in driving the tire industry towards carbon neutrality.
The report points out that the waste tire pyrolysis technology is gradually becoming a focus of industry attention. This technology not only realizes the effective recycling of waste tires, but also significantly reduces carbon dioxide emissions during the production of rCB, which is only one-fifth of that of traditional fossil-based fillers, demonstrating high environmental protection and sustainability.
According to statistics from the Carbon Black Industry Network, the global demand for carbon black reached approximately 18 million tons in 2023, with a market value of between 18 and 20 billion US dollars. Among them, the European market is particularly noteworthy, with an annual demand of around 2.7 million tons, accounting for 15% of the global total demand and a market size equivalent to 3 billion US dollars.
Emerton predicts in the report that in the European market, rCB is expected to replace 10-20% of the traditional carbon black market share in the next few years, with an annual consumption of 250,000 to 550,000 tons. This transformation will bring significant economic value to the industry, with an estimated new market value of between 265 million and 530 million US dollars.
However, the report also points out the current challenges faced by rCB. Compared with traditional furnace carbon black, the quality of rCB has a certain gap, containing more impurities, which limits its use in high-end applications such as tire tread rubber to a certain extent. Nevertheless, Emerton remains optimistic about the future prospects of rCB. They believe that with the continuous deepening of research and development work and the continuous progress of pyrolysis technology, the production process of rCB will be further optimized, and its quality will be improved, gradually expanding its market application range.
This prediction not only brings new development opportunities to the carbon black industry, but also injects new vitality into the concept of environmental protection and sustainable development. As the global attention to environmental protection and sustainable development continues to increase, rCB, as an environmentally friendly carbon black substitute, is expected to occupy a more important position in the future market.