Carbon Black from Coal by the HYDROCARB Process

Carbon black is an ancient material and has been produced for over a century by several traditional processes. The raw materials have been mainly residual oils from refineries and from natural gas. Furnace black is made by partial combustion of oil. Channel black is made by partial combustion of natural gas and the carbon is collected on iron channels. Thermal black is made from the thermal decomposition of natural gas (methane). About 2 million tons of carbon black is sold in the U.S. About 85% of the carbon black goes into the manufacture of tires for automotive purposes. It is a vulcanization and strengthening agent. The remainder goes into pigments, printing inks, and fillers. The largest part of carbon black, that which is used in tires is made from residual oil by the furnace black process. The smaller fraction is made by the thermal black process from natural gas. There have been a number of attempts in the part to produce carbon black from coal. The recent ones deal with partial combustion in a sooty flame and collecting the fine carbon soot. However, the yields are poor and have never reached even advanced development stage. The value of searching for an alternative feed stock to oil and gas for carbon black production is important when considering the competitive use of the basic natural raw materials as energy sources, oil and gas being premium fuels. The resource of coal is an order of magnitude greater than oil and gas and as a source of carbon, coal as a feedstock is the cheapest. Over the last six years we have conceived and are developing a process for pro ducing carbon from coal primarily to satisfy the energy market. However, the process has implications for the carbon black commodity market.