Birla Carbon is one of the leading global suppliers of carbon black. But how much do we really know about this complex material that's quietly making our lives safer and more accessible?
Present in everything from cars and shoes to toys and banknotes, carbon black is a miracle of modern science.
A finely-divided and intensely black-colouredpowder, carbon black may look rather ordinary – but don't let that fool you. This remarkable material can be engineered to add strength and durability to car tires, protect water pipes from ultraviolet light, modulate electric and thermal conductivity in power cables, and lend rich, deep black tones to products like paints or inks.
Here are some more fascinating facts about carbon black and how it shapes our world.
Invisibly black
Carbon black is tiny – so small, in fact, that the largest primary particles are 1,000 times thinner than a human hair! Here's another visualisation: if laid out end-to-end, the approximately one trillion aggregates in a single gram of carbon black would more than encircle the earth at its equator!
Black as night
Besides its strength-giving properties, carbon black's ability to absorb light helps shield rubber or plastic products from sun-exposure damage. This makes it a vital component of irrigation and water pipes, including those used for drinking and washing.
Valuable leftover
Carbon black can be manufactured in multiple ways. Birla Carbon uses a high-temperature reactor to produce carbon black through a process that uses oil, and sometimes natural gas, as feedstock. The oil is usually a residue derived from crude oils or coal obtained from refineries, petrochemical plants, and coal tar distillers.
Tyres R Us
Worldwide, over 13 million tonnes of carbon black are produced a year (Birla Carbon alone has a capacity of over 2 million tonnes). An estimated 70% of this global output goes into rubber tyres of varying types and sizes. In fact, carbon black can account for about one-fourth of the weight of a standard automobile tyre!
Unsooted
Owing to the similarity in their names, carbon black and soot (also called black carbon) are often confused.
Soot is an unwanted by-product of the burning of wood or fossil fuels for heat, energy or waste disposal, and it includes a lot of non-carbon material. Meanwhile, carbon black is a high-tech industrial material containing over 97% pure carbon, and is manufactured according to a wide range of specifications.
The Wright way
The credit for discovering the process for manufacturing carbon black goes to American ink-maker JK Wright, who developed it in 1864. During the automobile boom that followed some years later, Mr Wright's process made it possible to mass-manufacture carbon black as an additive to strengthen tyres. However, large-scale production shot up only around the first World War.
Our milestones
In 1921, two early pioneers in carbon black manufacturing – Edwin Binney, and his cousin C. Harold Smith – began marketing their products under the name Columbian Chemicals Co. The company changed hands multiple times over the decades. In 2011, Aditya Birla Group acquired Columbian Chemicals. From that point, Birla Carbon became one of the world's largest carbon black companies.
Thinking green
Can carbon black contribute to sustainability and circularity? Absolutely! In a big step towards circularity, Birla Carbon recently launched Continua™ range of Sustainable Carbonaceous Materials (SCM). This revolutionary product which is generated from end-of-life tires captures about 0.73 tonnes of CO2 for every tonne of Continua™ SCM produced.
Thinking sustainable
Birla Carbon has committed towards the circular economy through its three principles of designing out waste and pollution, keeping products and materials in use, and regenerating natural systems. In a first for the global carbon black industry, Birla Carbon has pledged to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050. Stay tuned for more fascinating facts about your world and our role in making it a better place!
