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Carbon Black

Carbon black is a material produced by the incomplete combustion of heavy petroleum products such as FCC tar, coal tar, ethylene cracking tar, and a small amount from vegetable oil. Carbon black is a form of amorphous carbon that has a high surface-area-to-volume ratio, although its surface-area-to-volume ratio is low compared to that of activated carbon. It is dissimilar to soot in its much higher surface-area-to-volume ratio and significantly less (negligible and non-bioavailable) PAH (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon) content. Carbon black is used as a pigment and reinforcement in rubber and plastic products.


Carbon black [C.A.S. NO. 1333-86-4] is virtually pure elemental carbon in the form of colloidal particles that are produced by incomplete combustion or thermal decomposition of gaseous or liquid hydrocarbons under controlled conditions. Its physical appearance is that of a black, finely divided pellet or powder. Its use in tires, rubber and plastic products, printing inks and coatings is related to properties of specific surface area, particle size and structure, conductivity and color. Carbon black is also in the top 50 industrial chemicals manufactured worldwide, based on annual tonnage. Current worldwide production is about 18 billion pounds per year [8.1 million metric tons]. Approximately 90% of carbon black is used in rubber applications, 9% as a pigment, and the remaining 1% as an essential ingredient in hundreds of diverse applications.

Modern carbon black products are direct descendants of early "lamp blacks" first produced by the Chinese over 3,500 years ago. These early lamp blacks were not very pure and differed greatly in their chemical composition from current carbon blacks. Since the mid-1970s, most carbon black has been produced by the oil furnace process, which is most often referred to as furnace black.

Production
Two carbon black manufacturing processes (furnace black and thermal black) produce nearly all of the world's carbon blacks, with the furnace black process being the most common. The furnace black process uses heavy aromatic oils as feedstock. The production furnace uses a closed reactor to atomize the feedstock oil under carefully controlled conditions (primarily temperature and pressure). The primary feedstock is introduced into a hot gas stream (achieved by burning a secondary feedstock, e.g., natural gas or oil) where it vaporizes and then pyrolyzes in the vapor phase to form microscopic carbon particles. In most furnace reactors, the reaction rate is controlled by steam or water sprays. The carbon black produced is conveyed through the reactor, cooled, and collected in bag filters in a continuous process. Residual gas, or tail gas, from a furnace reactor includes a variety of gases such as carbon monoxide and hydrogen. Most furnace black plants use a portion of this residual gas to produce heat, steam, or electric power.

The thermal black process uses natural gas, consisting primarily of methane or heavy aromatic oils, as feedstock material. The process uses a pair of furnaces that alternate approximately every five minutes between preheating and carbon black production. The natural gas is injected into the hot refractory lined furnace, and, in the absence of air, the heat from the refractory material decomposes the natural gas into carbon black and hydrogen. The aerosol material stream is quenched with water sprays and filtered in a bag house. The exiting carbon black may be further processed to remove impurities, pelletized, screened, and then packaged for shipment. The hydrogen off-gas is burned in air to preheat the second furnace.

Physical & Chemical Properties
Carbon black is not soot or black carbon, which are the two most common, generic terms applied to various unwanted carbonaceous by-products resulting from the incomplete combustion of carbon-containing materials, such as oil, fuel oils or gasoline, coal, paper, rubber, plastics and waste material. Soot and black carbon also contain large quantities of dichloromethane- and toluene extractable materials, and can exhibit an ash content of 50% or more.

Carbon black is chemically and physically distinct from soot and black carbon, with most types containing greater than 97% elemental carbon arranged as aciniform (grape-like cluster) particulate. On the contrary, typically less than 60% of the total particle mass of soot or black carbon is composed of carbon, depending on the source and characteristics of the particles (shape, size, and heterogeneity). In the case of commercial carbon blacks, organic contaminants such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) can only be extracted under very rigorous laboratory analytical procedures (soxhlet extraction using organic solvents and high temperatures). These extracts, though they may be similar to those derived from soot, are unique, however, because carbon black extracts exist only in extremely small quantities. Water and body fluids are ineffective in removing PAHs from the surface of carbon black and, therefore, they are not considered to be biologically available. Two other commercial carbonaceous products often confused with carbon black are activated carbon and bone black. Each is produced by processes different from commercial carbon black and possesses unique physical and chemical properties.