"And landfilling is a nightmare," Bradley said. "Collecting rCB via pyrolysis also produces steel and gases. To make the system work, we have to find uses for all parts. At Orion, we are looking at the boundaries as to what we can produce."
Orion is a global leader in specialty carbon black, which makes up about 30 percent of its revenue, according to fiscal year 2022 numbers.
The company is the third-largest global player in rubber carbon black, which accounts for about 70 percent of revenue.
Within rubber carbon black, EMEA comprises about 39 percent of net sales, while the Americas account for 44 percent and APAC 17 percent, according to Orion.
"Sustainability is a house that has to be built on a solid foundation," Bradley said. "The bricks are business and innovation. We have to innovate. ... Society commands that we innovate.
"This is, and should be, the structure of business moving forward."
Cabot currently has ISCC Plus certifications at seven of its facilities, Misbah said.
"I am proud that we have achieved ... certification at our facilities," he said. "Cabot has ambitions to expand certification throughout its global network."
Certified Cabot sites include four reinforcing carbon facilities in Europe and the Americas, as well as two masterbatch and compounding facilities in Europe and the company's EMEA regional headquarters.
The certifications help tire and automotive OEMs achieve their own 2030 and 2050 sustainability goals, Misbah said.
"These products are produced via a mass balance approach designed to trace the flow of materials through a complex value chain," Misbah said.
He added that Cabot is "continuously working to increase yields."
"Our current manufacturing process converts up to 75 percent of the carbon from industrial byproducts into highly engineered reinforcing carbons," he said. "This process releases less CO2 than if the same waste byproducts are burned for energy production, as is typical."
He said the response from customers regarding Cabot's efforts in the sustainable CB space "has been overwhelmingly positive."
"With the tire industry under increasing pressure to deliver more sustainable solutions to continue to reduce environmental impacts, Evolve Sustainable Solutions helps to fill this need in the market for solutions with sustainable content," Misbah said. "Together, with our customers, we remain committed to pursuing innovative solutions and processes that improve our collective sustainability performance and address the key sustainability challenges of today's world."
Riveros added that Orion has turned over every stone it can, researching "the whole tire recycling process."
"We can use the oil to make our circular carbon blacks and are developing technologies to use the carbon black recovered from the pyrolysis as a feedstock to be further processed," he said. "We focus on products that our customers can use in large scale with quality consistency and minimal re-formulation."
Riveros said the biggest challenge remains the limited availability of feedstocks, "which will be solved as more pyrolysis plants are built."
"Customers tested and confirmed that our products can fully replace conventional grades in complex rubber compounds," he said. "Some customers have already launched more sustainable tires using our products. We are preparing the infrastructure and securing feedstocks to enable us (to) expand production to other plants, as required by our global customers."