Epsilon Carbon, a coal tar derivatives company, has established India’s first integrated carbon black complex with Rs 550 crore investment at Bellary, Karnataka.
With a capacity of 1,15,000 tpa, the carbon black unit is already running close to full capacity.
As part of Phase-II, Epsilon will expand its capacity by 65,000 tpa at an additional investment of Rs 350 crore, taking the total investment close to Rs 900 crore.
Epsilon Carbon plans expansion into Europe, US markets. Further, the company will expand its carbon black capacity to 3,00,000 tpa to become the country’s largest single-location carbon black plant, which will bring cost-efficiency and consistent quality products for customers.
The integrated facility produces carbon black for tyre, non-tyre rubber and plastic master batch partners globally. The newly commissioned complex has a complete backward integration support for raw material sourcing.
The anthracene oil generated in the coal tar distillation process will be used as a clean feedstock in the carbon black unit. The security of raw materials and consistency in feedstock quality help Epsilon Carbon produce consistent quality carbon black.
In a first, the integrated carbon complex uses waste coke oven gas from the steel plant as a fuel, and the tail-gas from the carbon black unit is fed back to the steel complex for pre-heating operations.
Compared to other plants that use three per cent sulphur as feedstock, Epsilon Carbon’s new unit uses 0.3-0.5 per cent captive low-sulphur as feedstock.
The company has appointed over 30 partners to assist with local service, warehousing and logistics support, besides providing just-in-time delivery to customers.
Epsilon Carbon has manufacturing facilities in Karnataka, Chhattisgarh and Orissa — strategically close to raw material sources and customers.