February 25, 2025 – Orion, a global specialty chemicals company, announced today it has signed a long-term supply agreement with Contec, which will provide Orion tire pyrolysis oil to produce circular carbon black for tire and rubber goods customers.

The agreement with Warsaw, Poland-based Contec further enables Orion to diversify its sources of tire pyrolysis oil, commonly known as TPO.
“With the ConPyro TPO supplied by Contec, Orion will be able to make large-scale volumes of circular grades of carbon black that will supply growing demand from the world’s leading tire and rubber goods producers,” Orion CEO Corning Painter said. “This is yet another way that Orion is accelerating the transition to a circular economy.”

According to Orion, TPO-based manufacturing is the only circular technology that is moving into industrial production to produce high-quality active carbon black. The process takes discarded end-of-life tires and exposes them to high temperatures to produce a feedstock Orion can convert into virgin carbon black. Orion claims it is the only company that has made circular carbon black from 100% TPO as a feedstock. The company has also demonstrated that its circular products can replace virgin carbon black in many applications.

“At Contec, sustainability is one of our core values. This partnership is a clear confirmation to the market that the industry is continuously evolving, and the circular economy is no longer just a vision for the future - thanks to collaboration with Orion, it is becoming a tangible reality today,” said Krzysztof Wróblewski, CEO of Contec S.A.

Orion S.A. is a leading global supplier of carbon black, a solid form of carbon produced as powder or pellets. The material is made to customers’ exacting specifications for tires, coatings, ink, batteries, plastics and numerous other specialty, high-performance applications. Carbon black is used to tint, colorize, provide reinforcement, conduct electricity, increase durability and add UV protection. Orion has four innovation centers and produces carbon black at 15 plants worldwide. The company’s corporate lineage goes back more than 160 years to Germany, where it operates the world’s longest-running carbon black plant.

Contec S.A. specializes in end-of-life tire processing through chemical recycling, transforming discarded tires into circular, sustainable raw materials. What sets Contec apart is their proprietary Molten technology, which utilizes molten salt as a heat transfer medium. The company claims this innovative approach ensures safer, more efficient, and economically viable production. Since 2017, Contec has been at the forefront of defossilization of the manufacturing industry by providing sustainable alternatives to virgin carbon black and petrochemical raw materials.

Source: Orion