Dutch sustainable carbon black manufacturer Black Bear Carbon (Eindhoven; www.blackbearcarbon.com) has signed a memorandum of understanding with German distribution group Helm (Hamburg; www.helmag.com) for the production and marketing of recovered carbon back, a cooperation set to begin in the second half of 2023.

Black Bear uses proprietary technology to recover carbon black from used tyres at its plant at the Chemelot Industrial Park in the Netherlands. The company plans to produce 12,000 t/y of the material, which it said will reduce CO₂ emissions by more than 65,000 t/y versus conventionally produced carbon black.

“We are ready to start the global roll out of our state-of-the-art technology for upcycling end-of-life tyre rubber, and we are very pleased to join forces with Helm because of their expertise and international network,” Black Bear CEO Victor Vreeken said. The companies expressed an intent to extend their cooperation through further projects. The Dutch firm said it “plans to lead the transition towards a circular economy for tyres by rolling out multiple tyre upcycling plants with local partners around the world, focusing on Europe for its next plants.”

In May 2021, Black Bear said it had raised EUR 7.5m in a first step towards funding its EUR 78m capital requirement for establishing the Chemelot facility.