Carbon Black World 2002 held. (Meetings).

Carbon Black World 2002, the seventh carbon black conference sponsored by Intertech Conferences, will be held November 13-15 at the Radisson SAS Hotel in Nice, France.

This international biennial event will provide a forum for carbon black producers, users, feedstock suppliers and providers of support equipment to examine the current state of the global carbon black industry.

Attendees will receive a complete briefing on market trends by region and sector, new technologies, international regulatory issues and technical trends in major markets such as tires, as well as new end-use markets with recent significant growth, like ink jet inks.

Delegates will receive a balanced view of where carbon black markets are heading, as well as the latest information on feedstocks and their pricing, according to the sponsor.

Conference co-chairs will be Dr. Emmanuel Custodero, research manager, raw material, Michelin, and Robert Wissner, president of the business unit for advanced fillers and pigments, Degussa AG.

A keynote presentation will be given by Professor J.B. Donnet of the Ecole Nationale Superieure de Chimie, Mulhouse, France, titled "Do we need more research and development in carbon black?"

On Wednesday, November 13, there will be two pre-conference seminars. Michel Gerspacher, director of basic research at Sid Richardson Carbon, will instruct the morning session, "Fundamentals of compounding with silica and carbon black."

This seminar will review the state-of-the-art methods of characterizing both of these competing fillers. Participants will learn their surface physicochemistry, together with compounding techniques used in the tire industry today. Attendees will also learn how to achieve the desired properties of a modern tire compound, as the role of the filler network, as well as polymer-filler interactions, will be discussed. Attendees will learn how both of these characteristics should be optimized during processing of the rubber compound, particularly how the quality of the micro-dispersion of the fillers (silica and carbon black) is the prime factor for achieving the best tire.

Bob Drasner, senior consultant at Packaging Equipment Specialists, will lead the afternoon session, "Modern packaging and shipping techniques for carbon black."

Participants will learn the newest methods of packaging carbon blacks with multi-wall paper and inclusion plastic bags, as well as bulk trucks and railcars, including details of what leads to success or failure. Items to be covered include 25 kg/50 lb. valve bags, both paper and plastic inclusion types, air packers for beaded blacks and auger, impeller and vacuum packers for fluffy blacks, details on how to set up air packers to fill dust-free and not explode paper or poly bags, a typical small bag filling system load protection and stabilization, the popular types of flexible intermediate bulk containers (FIBCs), different methods of filling FIBC bags (including exactly how to package fluffy black in FIBCs) and bulk trucks and railcars.

Global trends and market challenges will be presented by executives from Degussa AG, Chemical Market Intelligence, the University of Akron, Hi-Tech Carbon, Kline and Company and Smithers Scientific Services.

Feedstock oil supply/demand and quality issues will be discussed by representatives from Tauber Oil, SABIC EuroPetrochemicals (formerly DSM), Enjet and CTC International.

New technical trends, developing applications and new production techniques will be addressed by technical experts from Cabot, Erachem, Work Associates, China Synthetic Rubber, Ecole Nationale Superierure de Chimie, University of Le Havre, Ecole de Mines de Paris and Metso Minerals.

The latest important developments in environmental health and carbon black handling will be discussed by Buhler AG, W.L. Gore, the International Carbon Black Association and Robert McCunney of MIT.

On November 14, there will be a panel discussion on feedstock issues.

Session 1 on "Market outlook and assesment" will feature the following presentations: "Challenges of the European carbon black industry and market," Stuart Finch, Chemical Market Intelligence: "The tire industry in the first decade of the 21st century," Dennis Byrne, University of Akron; "Emerging carbon black markets--China and India," Anil Kumar, Hi-Tech Carbon; "Silicas in tires--will the European success story be repeated in North America," Mark DeDecker, Kline Europe SA; and "Carbon black usage trends in passenger car tires," Dave Schwarz, Smithers Scientific Services.

Session 2 on "Carbon black feedstock developments" will feature the following presentions: "Carbon black feedstock overview," Vincent J. Guercio and Jean-Claude Martin, CTC International; "Carbon black worldwide ocean freight trends--2002," John Kennelly, Enjet; "Ethylene tar as carbon black feedstock," Jos Meulenberg, SABIC EuroPetrochemicals; and "Gulf coast feedstock pricing," David W. Tauber, Tauber Oil.

Session 3 on "New technical trends, developing applications and advanced production techniques," will feature the following presentations: "Carbon black and silica/silane--competition or symbiosis?" Bernhard Schweiger, Degussa AG; "Recent advances in carbon black technology," Meng-Jiao Wang, Khaled Mahmud and Thierry Lanoye, Cabot; "Carbon black in portable energy, another world?" Nicolas Probst, Erachem Europe SA; "Black ink jet inks--dispersed carbon blacks the overwhelming choice," Ray A. Work, Work Associates; "Methods of feedstock characterization," Jarn-Horng Lin and Peter Ting Kai Wu, China Synthetic Rubber; "Surface roughness of carbon blacks-quantification by scanning tunneling microscopy and image analysis," T.K. Wang, University of Le Havre; "Advances in the development of three-phase AC plasma technology," Laurent Fulcheri, Ecole des Mines de Paris; and "Production of recycled carbon black," Bobby P. Faulkner and John Trescot, Metso Minerals.

Session 4 on "Carbon black handling and use and environmental considerations," will feature the following presentations: "Trends in handling and processing of carbon black," Marc Borel, Buhler AG; "Fabric filtration in carbon black," Thomas C. Savage, W.L. Gore & Associates; "Current activities of the International Carbon Black Association," Harry G. Moore, Cabot; "Occupational health research in the carbon black industry," Robert McCunney, MIT; and "Conference summary and conclusion," Emmanuel Custodero, Michelin; Robert Wissner, Degussa AG; and Scott Stephenson, Intertech.

The conference registration fee is $1,395. Registration fees for the seminars are $395 each, or $595 for both seminars. Further information is available from Intertech [phone].