Monolith targets U.S. for carbon black

HALLAM, Neb.—Monolith Materials, a next-generation manufacturer of natural gas-based carbon black, is trying to bring a different form of carbon black manufacturing to America.

To this end, the company said it is using its "innovative process technology" to start production in late 2018.

Monolith founders have a background in the energy market, so they were interested in investing opportunities to utilize the abundant natural gas resources in North America in a meaningful way, according to John Reese, vice president of sales and marketing.

"In their efforts, they identified the natural gas to carbon black process as a significant opportunity to provide the market with a needed product in an environmentally and economically advantaged way," he added.

For years, the tire and carbon black industries in the U.S. were declining because of economic and environmental challenges. In these industries, the growth was happening in China. Now, the tides are shifting.

"During the past few years a significant reversal has occurred with many significant announcements of new tire capacity being announced in the U.S. market," Reese said.

"This new capacity has created a need for locally produced carbon black with a sustainable environmental model. The existing carbon black industry, which utilized oil based feedstocks, is currently restricted from expansion due to environmental concerns."

Monolith's process contains hydrogen as a co-product, which the firm said provides clean power to 150,000 homes.

"The traditional furnace process to make carbon black uses a process of incomplete combustion of a hydrocarbon fuel oil," Reese said.

While this process creates carbon black, it also creates some environmentally challenging side products, such as carbon dioxide, NOx and SOx.

"It is the creation of these side products that currently has the existing carbon black market under (Environmental Protection Agency) action to improve the environmental performance," Reese added.

Monolith's carbon black manufacturing process does not involve combustion. Instead, the company said it utilizes an electric plasma arc to crack natural gas into carbon black and hydrogen.

The yield of this process is greater than 99 percent, Reese claimed, so there is no direct environmental impact.

Monolith looked at a few areas in both the U.S. and Canada before landing in Nebraska.

"The key needs are a reliable and cost-effective source of natural gas and electricity to run our process and a strong partner to utilize the hydrogen stream from our process," Reese said.

Production is set to launch at the end of 2018 in Hallam, bringing 600 new jobs to the area. Commercial activities will begin in 2019.

Monolith found Nebraska Public Power to be a leader in reliability of service, diversity and cost of electricity, he added.

"Nebraska's location in the center of the U.S. puts it on many of the main natural gas pipelines, facilitating a reliable and cost-effective source of natural gas for our process," Reese said.

The Nebraska Public Power District will be able to utilize the firm's hydrogen stream to displace coal as a fuel source for one of the boilers at the Sheldon Station power plant.

This shift from a coal source to a hydrogen source will reduce CO2 emissions by 1 million metric tons a year at the Sheldon Station facility.

"From a customer standpoint, Monolith's use of a natural gas feedstock versus a fuel oil provides the opportunity to make a much purer carbon black particle," Reese said. "We are anxious to find the new opportunities our unique carbon black particles will provide for our customers."