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mix, the rubber non-tire segment uses 75% of soft
grades and only 25% consisting of hard grades.
Global demand for special blacks, which encompasses
all carbon black used in non-rubber applications, totals
about 9% of the carbon black industry’s volumes but
20% of its value, because of much higher prices. The
largest single market for carbon black outside the
rubber industry is in plastics compounding, which
accounts for 52% of volume demand of special blacks.
Printing inks, paints and coatings together account for
another 20% of specialty blacks demand.
Carbon black feedstock oils, such as FCC Slurry Oil,
Hydro-treated RFCC Slurry Oil, Ethylene Tar Oil, Heavy QAFCO Melamine Plant – Mesaieed, Qatar - view of Euromel® Plant, the
oil from Coal Tar Oil form the raw material for the largest melamine plant in the Middle-East
production of carbon black. Their aromatic contents
can easily be assessed from API gravity which is
directly related to the yield. energy surplus, which is conveniently recovered and
converted in steam and/or electricity. A 50,000 ton/
year ET Black™ carbon black plant is able to generate
Eurotecnica Furnace Black 10 MWe.
- ET Black™ ET Black™ Carbon Plant at ADNOC Refinery U.A.E.
Within the frame of U.A.E. Abu Dhabi strategy to
The most important development in carbon black has reduce its reliance on the crude oil market by developing
been the introduction of furnace blacks which have a number of downstream sectors, ADNOC Refinery
replaced almost all other carbon blacks. Today the decided to implement a carbon black delayed coker
furnace black process accounts for more than 95% of (CBDC) at the Ruwais Industrial Complex.
carbon black production worldwide. ET Black™ The purpose of this new plant was to produce higher
Carbon Process is a high-yield furnace black process. value-added products, such carbon black, from the
The production of carbon black in the ET Black™ crude oil refining and heavy residual oil recycling.
furnace black reactor is accomplished by the partial Eurotecnica’s ET Black™ Process was selected, with
combustion and thermal decomposition of highly the aim to design a Carbon Black unit able to produce
aromatic residual oils (such as FCC Slurry Oil, Hydro- Hard Black grades, in particular the N115
treated RFCC Slurry Oil, Ethylene Tar Oil, Heavy oil semiconductive and N220 UV Grade.
from Coal Tar Oil) at high temperature, from 1400°C to Both high value-added grades are used for production
2000°C depending on the type of carbon black of plastic pipes for water supply and wire/cable
produced, whether soft black or hard black grades. products. Both require very low grit residue and
across specific reaction times for each grade. no-taste/no-smell feature.
The feedstock can be burnt in the furnace with the The Carbon Black unit is also able to run on some
amount of air enough to keep the flame alive so that it desulphurized feedstocks (main and secondary) with
gives maximum soot and does not convert carbon particularly low BMCI, 91 and 95 respectively.
atoms to carbon monoxide or dioxide. The feedstock in fact comes out of a Slurry Oil Hydro-
Across the process, the feedstock oil molecules break Desulphurization Unit that treats the Resid Fluid
apart releasing their carbon atoms. These atoms Catalytic Cracker (RFCC). The ADNOC ET Black™
reform first into tiny particles of carbon and then into plant is capable of producing more than 40,000 ton/
clusters called aggregates. year of carbon black, making of them one of the largest
The size of the particles and the aggregates can be carbon black producers in the Middle East.
controlled by adjusting various reactor conditions, thus
determining the grade of carbon black.
The reactor is actually the most important and critical Technologies - Oil & Gas
item as it is the heart of the process, where the Oil & Gas, Refinery, Petrochemical are sectors where
conversion oil feedstock is ultimately transformed in Eurotecnica has been active since the company’s
carbon black of defined characteristics. foundation.
An ET Black™ plant produces a certain amount of Recently Eurotecnica’s technologies have contributed
IndustrIal Plants - May 2020
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