Birla Carbon adding 150kMT of capacity

Birla Carbon has announced a series of expansion plans designed to raise its carbon black capacity in a number of regions.

The company says it will raise capacities considerably through significant debottlenecking at Birla Carbon’s factories in Egypt and Italy before the end of the third quarter of 2018. The firm will also restart a production line in Thailand by the end of the fourth quarter of 2018 and install new production lines in India with a start date of the fourth quarter of 2019. In total, Birla Carbon will be adding 150kMT per annum of new capacity on line over the next 18 months. Furthermore, the company is prepared to expand at its newest plant in China by an additional 120kMT “at the opportune time”.

“Birla Carbon is committed to supporting our customers’ growing needs in all geographies,” said Dr Santrupt Misra, Birla chief executive officer, adding: “Implementation of these projects is underway after a series of development initiatives were identified to meet market requirements.”

John Loudermilk, chief operating officer, added: “The new capacities will enable us to serve a range of segments including production capability for high value, differentiated products in the tyre, rubber goods, and specialty markets.”