© 2026 Wolfersdorff Consulting Berlin
Dear colleagues & friends of recovered Carbon Black,
Welcome to your April 2026 dose of curated recovered Carbon Black and related news. The views and opinions in this newsletter are my own.
We currently have 7.702 subscribers, furthermore 1.250 members in the LinkedIn rCB group Martin & friends: recovered Carbon Black "rCB" and tyre pyrolysis and we have a community of more than 500 colleagues in the Smithers Tire & Rubber Conferences rCB Europe and rCB Asia Conferences. See you there!
Overview
Circtec: Europe is still the best place to produce rCB
NE-TECH starts commissioning its Karcag site
rCB News at tire technology expo & conference 2026
Iran war causing oil price disruption
Circtec: Europe is still the best place to produce rCB
Het Financieele Dagblad, 13.04.2026
A recent Circtec interview with Deputy-CEO Robert Harper in the Dutch publication crediteuren Het Financieele Dagblad highlights a paradox:
While Europe offers (1) policy support, (2) deep chemical industry integration and (3) real demand for circular feedstocks (rCB and TPO), execution is where value is won or lost.
Three signals investors should not ignore:
Capital is available — but is selective: Circtec raised €307m, with A.P. Møller Holding and Novo Holdings backing the story. Capital flows to credible scale narratives, not to pilot hype.
Permitting & grid access is a hidden bottleneck, not technology, nor demand. Time-to-energy and time-to-permit are now the real project risks in EU.
China is not the default fallback. Despite faster execution, the geopolitical and dependency risks are real. Europe wins on system integration, not on speed.
What this actually means and what most miss: Europe is not attractive because it is “easy.” Europe is attractive because it is structurally necessary.
If you want tyre-to-tyre circularity, regulatory-backed demand for rCB, integration into downstream chemical value chains, then there is no substitute geography.
My take:
The next winners in rCB and TPO will not be defined by technology. They will be defined by permitting strategy, energy strategy and capital structuring under EU constraints.
This is where projects succeed or quietly die.
PS: Re-watch the opening of Circtec Netherlands here!
NE-TECH starts commissioning its Karcag site
NE-TECH / MOL Group Karcag TPO & rCB production site
Hungarian NE-TECH INDUSTRIES is starting the commissioning of the new TPO & rCB production site for MOL Group in Karcag.
The Hosokawa Alpine Aktiengesellschaft rCB refining line should now be in the process of being installed and should be commissioned soon.
Viktor Váradi presented at the Smithers Tire & Rubber Conferences rCB Europe 2025 in BCN about his new company structure and the building of the Karcag site. You can rewatch Viktor's presentation in 5 parts on the Carbon Black & rCB YouTube channel here: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 and Part 5. I probably will soon upload the entire presentation.
I think, in the broader European rCB industry, with all its ups and downs, this is a company to watch
rCB News at tire technology expo & conference 2026
You probably have seen my Tire Technology Expo coverage just after the event? No? On the Carbon Black and rCB YouTube channel, you can watch my presentation "3 decades of rCB" (which I think is probably the best overview on the recovered Carbon Black industry) and my interviews with BKT, Circular Rubber Platform, WF Recycle-Tech, Granuband and GRP.
So, what did I find noteworthy at TTX26 in the context of recovered Carbon Black?
Birla Carbon / Circtec leading the way (again)
Carlo Silvestri from Birla Carbon presented about a research study of 30 rCBs in comparison to the CONTINUA™ range of SCMs (CONTINUA™ 8000 in Europe and CONTINUA™ 8030 in India).
While I presented about my choice of the ASTM D8632 R12 grade to be the quality target for the rCB industry, the Birla Carbon team showed that the industry is already there. But now we need to add an application performance characterisation to the classification!
The majority of 30 analysed rCBs can be classified "R12" in the new ASTM D8632 classification
Silvestri, Tunnicliffe, Crossley, Hallet "Survey of the Rubber Performance of various Sustainable Carbonaceous Materials"
CONTINUA™ 8000 and 8030 "process capability" Cpk values are above 1.0, showing that their process is in control for the properties measured.
Silvestri, Tunnicliffe, Crossley, Hallet "Survey of the Rubber Performance of various Sustainable Carbonaceous Materials"
In the year 2020 Bolder Industries was the first rCB company showing an rCB quality control system and product analysis data for a whole year including ash content: This work by Birla Carbon / Circtec is showing the next step. Because you can be within the specification limits but totally out of control!
The automotive industry generally expects supplier process capability Cpk values above 1.66, so having process capabilities greater than 2 or 3 is fabulous.
Did I already mention that Birla Carbon is already offering VMOI service for CONTINUA™ SCMs? This is the highest form of supply chain services for bulk materials. No other rCB manufacturer will be able to do this within the next 3-5 years.
BASF purification and application development
One other presentation I really liked was that from BASF. Stefan Hannemann and Leonhard Karger presented about the company's purification method, this time with application results in a rubber sidewall formulation.
You know my stance to ash leaching. Generally I say it is not yet needed (or just decrease ash content by increasing rubber coking in your thermolysis 👺).
But the BASF work convinces me on another aspect: Application diversification. I love, love to see industrial and automotive coatings with rCB. The value lever is so big. A few grams of rCB make 100% of the appearance of the car! And if you can also use the same process to tweak rubber performance, then I am convinced. Technology alone does not create value, but technology with application development does! Great work Stefan and Leonhard!
Hannemann, Karger "Purification of rCB - Rubber and Coatings Applications"
Iran war causing oil price disruption
In a recent LinkedIn article I pondered about whether the USA needed a war to keep oil prices up.
A quick analysis of FRED data for Brent (till April '26), synthetic rubber, natural rubber and carbon black (till Feb '26) shows the interplay of wars and crises with oil prices and petrochemical product prices including carbon black.
My forecast for US carbon black is that it will peak at 2022 peak price level midyear 2026 and then stay above 2025 level.
But if you need precise data or data for a different region, contact me or the eminence in carbon black reporting, my colleague Paul Ita at Notch Consulting, LLC!
FRED pricing index data for Brent, SR, NR and carbon black, plus a Wolfersdorff Consulting carbon black price forecast
Thank you for reading the April rCB News!
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Greets from Berlin,
Martin von Wolfersdorff
