© WOLFERSDORFF CONSULTING
The pyrolysis and recovered carbon black forum of the recent conference of the European Tyre Recycling Association ("ETRA") was bursting, not only with audience, but also with speakers. Well done Jean-Paul Bouysset, Dr. Gisèle Jung and Valerie Schulman! And all this despite low oil prices which are deflating ASTM class standard virgin carbon black prices.
It was good to see progress at Scandinavian Enviro Systems (Trelleborg & Volvo approvals), Black Bear Carbon (speciality blacks for coatings), Alpha Carbone (start of production in summer 2015) and other ventures who presented a 10 min. paper each. Industry avantgarde Carbon Clean Tech (now part of Pyrolyx) were missed and did not attend/present due to a team reorganisation.
For my part, I am in contact with over 80 ventures worldwide and hence provided an overview on ventures, locations, technologies (see the above Gartner Hype cycle picture), strategies, costing and pricing. You will find my slides on slideshare and on my profile. I find it amazing that I am still discovering new ventures every week!
I see that entrepreneurs are enthused about making the world greener all while also making money and receiving H2020 subsidies. What it comes down to in reality is how cost efficient your front-end process can be so that you can afford an elaborate (and expensive) upgrading of the recovered carbon black, potentially including reactivation (my colleague François Terrade presented on this topic), additivation, milling, classifying and pelletising. Compared to the competitive processes of micro-granulation and devulcanisation, tyre pyrolysis is a somewhat more complex process. If you chose tyre pyrolysis as your recycling process, it makes sense to aim high and spend a great deal of effort into a market driven high-tech strategy and R&D-programme.
Still excited about tyre pyrolysis? The earlier you think about which markets to serve (I have aEuropean market study for recovered carbon black), what products to design and hence which manufacturing kit to buy, the better. I can provide the whole market facing strategy and process. I work with other consultants who can cover more technical aspects of process design and process tuning. Let's talk and let me help you grow your tyre pyrolysis business. Ask me for a free Skype session. My Skype ID is martin.von.wolfersdorff
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Best wishes, Martin
Martin von Wolfersdorff is principal consultant at WOLFERSDORFF CONSULTING. He helps chemical, materials and other B2B companies optimise sales & strategy and connects OEM companies with innovation providers. Martin also has expert knowledge in titanium dioxide, custom colour masterbatch, carbon black and tyre recycling materials like recycled carbon black and devulcanised polymers. He has held various roles from R&D engineer to commercial director EMEA at ICI, Huntsman Pigments, Americhem Europe Ltd and Cabot Switzerland GmbH.
For more frequent updates, follow him on LinkedIn.
Further LinkedIn Pulse articles:
"Leadership: The Art of Possibility in a business context"
http://bit.ly/Art-of-Possibility
"Optimising the chemical distribution channel"
http://bit.ly/optimise-distribution
Prospects for recovered Carbon Black 2023
Wolfersdorff Consulting Berlin
