Orion Engineered Carbon said it has debottlenecked a post-treatment unit at its Cologne, Germany, plant that produces high-jetness specialty carbon blacks. The debottlenecking enables Orion to increase production capacity and also produce beads in addition to powder. High-jetness carbon blacks deliver a deep black masstone with a bluish undertone and are popular in automotive coatings. Orion has plans to install a second post-treatment unit at its Cologne facility due to the rapidly growing demand for the company’s premium grades.

“It’s challenging to push jetness above certain levels, and Orion is one of only a few carbon black producers that can do it,” said Markus Mahn, director of Global Marketing for Coatings. “Demand was high last year and continues to be strong this year.”