Supply Deficit of Feedstock Oils for Carbon Black
By Li Bingyan  

Feedstock oils used for carbon black production mainly include
ethylene tar, anthracene oil and coal tar. With the growing
output of carbon black in recent years, demand for feedstock oils
has increased constantly. According to statistics of the China
Rubber Industry Association Carbon Black Branch, the output of
carbon black was 1.852 million tons in 2006, an increase of 14.9%
over 2005. The average annual growth of output was 19.4% from
2000 to 2006. The total consumption of feedstock oils reached
2.524 million tons in 2006, an increase of 24.1%. The consumption
was 415 thousand tons for ethylene tar, 771 thousand tons for
anthracene oil and 1.302 million tons for coal tar. The
consumption of anthracene oil has increased constantly and the
consumption of ethylene tar has been going down in recent years.
    The price of feedstock oils in China is already linked to
the international market. Exported carbon black no longer has
a price advantage. China's imports and exports of carbon black
tend to be balanced and the output will be nearly equal to the
demand. With upgrades to carbon black production technology, the
unit consumption of feedstock oils will decline gradually.
Judging from the consumption trend of automobile tires and
rubbers, the demand for carbon black and its feedstock oils in
China is expected to be 2.28 million tons and 3.876 million tons
respectively in 2010.
    The capacity of ethylene will see rapid growth in the next
5 years, but most new units will use naphtha or other light raw
materials. The increase of ethylene tar output will be only 1.2
million tons. Besides, in the design of most new units, ethylene
tar is used as fuel for internal cogeneration plants and other
units, so unless carbon black producers make great efforts, the
increased output of ethylene tar will not be supplied to them.
   FCC (fluid catalytic cracking) is one of the most important
processing methods for the conversion of heavy oils into light
oils in refineries. After the removal of solid particles through
filtration or clarification, FCC slurry becomes FCC clarified
oil. As clarified oil in most places of China contains relatively
little aromatics and has higher price than coal tar and ethylene
tar, it is not used in carbon black production. As refining
deepens, clarified oil will contain more aromatics and likely
become an important source of feedstock oil for carbon black
production.
   With increased coal tar processing, domestic use of most
newly added ethylene tar supplies as fuel and the worldwide
shortage of crude oil, the supply of feedstock oils for carbon
black will continue to be tight. Coal tar and ethylene tar cannot
fully meet the demand in carbon black production so import of
FCC clarified oil will increase.

    Consumption of Feedstock Oils from 2000 to 2006    
(thousand tons)    
Year                 2000    2001    2002    2003    2004
    2005    2006
Total                 878       918        923      1 039    1 560
    2 034    2 524
Ethylene tar          192       247       290        289        390   
    473        415
  Proportion (%)    21.9    26.9    31.4    27.8    25.0
    23.3    16.4
Anthracene oil        -         96        169        244       408   
    614        771
  Proportion (%)    -         10.5    18.3    23.5    26.2
    30.2    30.5
Coal tar              686      575       464      506       762   
    947       1 302
  Proportion (%)    78.1    62.6    50.3    48.7    48.8
    46.5    51.6
Source: CNCIC