Cabot expanding specialty capacity at Indonesia plant

CILEGON, Indonesia—Cabot Corp.'s Southeast Asia roots are growing a little deeper these days.

The Boston-based carbon black maker is investing an undisclosed amount to increase capacity of specialty compounds at its Cilegon facility, one that the company counts as key to its global supply efforts.

"We are excited to expand our footprint in the Cilegon community with our new masterbatch plant and continue to contribute to the economic development in Indonesia," Dixy Olyviardy, managing director of Cabot Asia Pacific South and president of Cabot Indonesia, said in a statement. "This investment is a testament to our ongoing commitment to deliver innovative and high-quality products that support the needs of our customers and address the key sustainability challenges of today's world."

Cabot acquired Teknor Apex's masterbatch business in 2019, a move that it said solidified its place as the largest masterbatch player in Southeast Asia. That is key, Cabot noted, as demand for its products continues to grow, particularly in Asia, with tire production ramp-ups and the automotive industry's transition to e-mobility.

"To support our customers and continue our growth in this rapidly growing market, it was essential to add an asset to our network. This expansion in Indonesia will inject much-needed capacity to grow the business globally," Biro Dutta, Cabot regional strategy and marketing manager for specialty compounds, told Rubber News. "This expansion project not only increases our specialty compounds capacity, but also brings operational synergies with our existing carbon black plant and has a sustainability benefit as it will use excess energy from the carbon black plant to run the plant."

The Indonesian facility, opened in 1988, currently has two manufacturing units and is one of Cabot's most important manufacturing facilities globally, as the rubber carbon blacks produced there are sold exclusively to tire makers.

The expansion, to be completed this year, will add a third standalone unit at the Indonesian site, growing global capacity of specialty compounds by 20,000 metric tons.

"As a global leader in black masterbatch and conductive compounds, we are pleased to break ground on this new facility to expand our global reach and better serve our customers in the region and around the world," Aaron Johnson, senior vice president and president of Formulated Solutions, said in a statement.

Better serving those customers, Johnson added, means focusing on ways that Cabot can improve sustainability—not only its own operations and products, but in its customers' end products.

"This new facility will enable us to meet the growing needs of our customers for innovative solutions that improve performance of their products and support their sustainability needs," Johnson said. "Furthermore, we are proud that this facility will incorporate state-of-the-art technologies and energy reuse to help us achieve our sustainability goals and net zero ambitions."

To achieve these aims, Cabot intends to tap the latest technological advances and plant design operations to minimize its environmental impact.

"Being co-located with our existing carbon black facility will enable us to utilize integrated site economics) through manufacturing efficiencies and reduced waste, including the use of recovered waste-heat energy from the carbon black facility," Dutta said. "This will reduce the environmental impact of the project in alignment with our recently announced ambition to achieve net zero carbon emissions globally by 2050."