Carbon Black Binder

Sodium Lignosulfonate for Carbon Black Wet Granulation

Developed based on years of in-depth research and advanced biomass refining technology, its core technical parameters and application advantages are as:

• Key Parameters: Lignin content 55%-60%, water solubility ≥98% (can be formulated into 1%-50% concentration aqueous solution), ash content ≤7%.

• Application Value: No pretreatment required, direct use reduces manual operation time by 60%; no dust generation (workplace dust concentration meets GBZ 2.1-2019 standard); carbon black particle forming qualification rate increased to over 96%, and comprehensive production cost reduced by 8%-12%

In the carbon black wet granulation process, sodium lignosulphonate is an ideal dispersion and bonding solution. As a specialized additive developed based on advanced biomass

refining technology, it has a basic structure of phenylpropane derivatives, excellent water solubility, and a stable lignin content of 55%-60%. The active free radicals in its molecules can trigger internal polymerization and condensation reactions, endowing the product with outstanding dispersion and bonding properties.

As an anionic external activation additive, the product is in the form of liquid colloid with excellent water solubility. It can be formulated into 1%-50% concentration aqueous solution according to production needs, and the solution viscosity increases regularly with the rise of concentration. This effectively improves the forming strength of carbon black particles and meets the core process requirements of carbon black granulation.

Strict Production Control: Focus on Five Key Indicators

To match the particularity of carbon black production, the product implements refined control in the production process, focusing on ensuring the following core indicators:

• Adopt special impurity removal technology to accurately remove calcium and magnesium ions, avoiding their negative impact on the dispersion and bonding performance of the additive.

• Significantly reduce the product’s ash content through multi-stage fine filtration process to ensure high purity of the additive.

• Strictly control the proportion of residues on the sieve to ensure the uniformity of product particles and avoid affecting the consistency of carbon black granulation.

• Optimize the process to reduce chloride ion content, which not only minimizes interference with carbon black product quality but also alleviates corrosion of transportation pipelines.

• Precisely regulate sulfur content to meet the low-sulfur requirement of additives in carbon black production.

Four Core Advantages of Liquid Form

Compared with traditional solid lignin, liquid sodium lignosulfonate shows significant advantages in practical applications and has become the first choice for carbon black production enterprises:

• More Convenient Operation: No pretreatment steps such as heating and dissolution are needed; it can be directly put into use, greatly simplifying the application process and reducing operational complexity.

• More Eco-Friendly Packaging: Flexible bags or tank containers are used, which can be directly transferred to storage tanks or mixing tanks, reducing packaging waste and avoiding secondary pollution.

• More Controllable Cost: Eliminate the loading and unloading of solid materials, reduce labor and time costs, while reducing workers’ labor intensity and improving overall production efficiency.

• More Environmentally Friendly: No dust is generated during use, reducing dust pollution from the source and helping enterprises build a clean and healthy production environment.

Green Raw Materials and Diversified Applications

The product uses 100% renewable corn stover (CS) as the only raw material. Relying on the integrated biomass refining technology (IBRT) platform, it realizes efficient raw material conversion through the ternary separation method (TSM) — first extracting natural ecological pulp, then separating lignin components.

This lignin component is not only a high-quality dispersant for carbon black granulation but also widely used in dye dispersion, animal feed addition, road asphalt emulsification and other fields. It realizes the high-value and diversified utilization of biomass raw materials, conforming to the development trend of green chemical industry and circular economy.

At present, many carbon black production enterprises have fully replaced solid lignin after testing liquid products. Its practical effects in cost reduction, efficiency improvement and environmental protection have been fully verified by the market.

SQMT-1 is a special granulation binder developed to address the pain points of specialty carbao black production. With three core advantages of "high purity, strong dispersion and full environmental protection", it solves problems such as easy agglomeration and substandard purity in high-end carbon black granulation, and has become a stable choice for many leading carbon black enterprises.

Core Performance: Accurately Solve Difficulties in Specialty Carbon Black Granulation

• Ultra-High Purity to Meet Strict Standards: Effective lignin content ≥65%, standard ash content ＜1% (actual test value only 0.3%, purity comparable to food-grade maltose), avoiding impurities from affecting key properties of specialty carbao black such as conductivity and coloring from the source.

• Strong Dispersion to Improve Granulation Efficiency: Relying on the multi-functional groups of phenylpropane structural units, it has better water solubility and interface activity. Compared with traditional maltose binders, the dispersion speed is increased by 30%, which can reduce the agglomeration of carbon black particles, and the granulation forming rate reaches over 98%.

• Full-Chain Environmental Protection to Conform to Green Production: 100% renewable plant raw materials are used, sodium content is strictly controlled below 4%, and the product is completely biodegradable without wastewater or waste gas residues, meeting the requirements of environmental protection policies for high-end chemical production.

Adaptable Scenarios: Covering High-End Application Fields of specialty carbao black

Due to its customized performance, specialty carbao black is widely used in high-value-added fields, and SQMT-1 can accurately match its granulation needs:

• Coating and Ink Field: Helps to uniformly disperse carbon black, ensuring full color and strong hiding power of the coating, while enhancing UV aging resistance and extending the service life of outdoor coatings.

• Electronic Materials Field: Used in scenarios such as lithium-ion battery anodes and supercapacitor conductive agents, its low ash content can reduce electrode impurities and improve the cycle stability and conductivity efficiency of energy storage equipment.

• Fine Chemical Field: In the preparation of catalyst carriers and high-end pigments, its excellent bonding force ensures the stable shape of carbon black particles without affecting catalytic activity and pigment coloring power.

Compared with ordinary carbon black for rubber, specialty carbao black has 5-8 times higher requirements for raw material purity and particle uniformity. The low ash content and strong dispersion of SQMT-1 are precisely targeted to solve this core difference.

Product Form

• Solid: Brown powder, no pungent odor, with a natural plant fragrance, easily soluble in warm water above 60℃, convenient for proportioning in the workshop.

• Liquid: Dark brown viscous liquid with solid content ≥60%, no dissolution step required, suitable for continuous production lines.

In industries such as carbon black production and biomass power generation, air preheater tube clogging is a core pain point restricting the energy efficiency of boiler systems. SQCL-2 dispersible lignin is specially developed to solve this problem. By spraying the solution into the reaction furnace, it improves the characteristics of carbon black particles from the source, completely solves the problem of ash deposition and clogging in tubes, and ensures the efficient and stable operation of heat exchange equipment.

Industry Pain Points: Core Causes of Air Preheater Tube Clogging

As a key heat exchange equipment of industrial boilers, the efficiency of air preheater directly determines the energy utilization rate and economy of the system. In carbon black production scenarios, the clogging problem is particularly prominent, with specific causes as follows:

Deposition Caused by Particle Characteristics: The average particle size of carbon black is only 10-20μm, with strong adsorption. When high-temperature flue gas flows through the wall of low-temperature tubes, it is easy to deposit on the tube wall through thermophoresis.

Adhesion Aggravated by Environmental Factors: Water vapor in the flue gas condenses on the tube wall when encountering cold to form a water film, causing the deposited carbon black particles to further adhere and agglomerate, forming stubborn wall deposits.

Chain Problems Caused Eventually: The continuous accumulation of ash leads to a sharp drop in tube heat exchange efficiency and an increase in ventilation resistance. In severe cases, it directly causes tube clogging and forces the production line to shut down for cleaning.

Product Core: Technical Principle of SQCL-2 Dispersible Lignin

Relying on the unique molecular structure and action mechanism of lignin, SQCL-2 blocks the formation of ash deposits from the source, which can be divided into three core links:

1. Basic Molecular Structure of Lignin

Lignin is a complex phenolic polymer composed of four alcohol monomers. Its molecular chain is rich in polar groups such as phenolic hydroxyl and alcoholic hydroxyl, which have both excellent reaction activity and surface activity. It can realize the regulation of hydrophilicity and hydrophobicity at the same time, providing structural support for dispersion.

2. Dual Dispersion Mechanism

• Electrostatic Repulsion: The polar groups of lignin ionize in the aqueous solution, making the molecules adsorbed on the surface of carbon black particles carry the same charge. This prevents particles from approaching each other through charge repulsion.

• Steric Hindrance: After the lignin polymer chains are adsorbed on the particle surface, a three-dimensional protective layer is formed, which hinders particle agglomeration in space.

3. Targeted Interaction with Carbon Black

Under high-temperature working conditions, the lignin in SQCL-2 pyrolyzes to form phenoxy free radicals. These free radicals can accurately combine with the active sites on the surface of carbon black particles, and achieve firm adsorption through π-π conjugation and hydrogen bonding. This combination not only significantly improves the dispersion of carbon black but also reduces its surface adsorption capacity, fundamentally reducing the deposition of ash deposits on the tube wall of the air preheater.

Packaging Specifications: Adapt to Different Forms and Transportation Scenarios

• Powder Form: Packaged in FIBC (Flexible Intermediate Bulk Container) with a net weight of 500kg per bag. It balances the convenience of loading/unloading and transportation stability, suitable for the storage and turnover of bulk solid raw materials.

• Liquid Form: Contained in FLEXI bags (flexible bulk containers) with a capacity of 25,000-26,000kg per FLEXI bag. It can be directly loaded into 20-foot standard containers, meeting the transportation needs of long-distance and large-capacity liquid raw materials.

Storage Requirements: Ensure 1-Year Shelf Life of the Product

1. Storage Environment: Should be stored in a cool and dry warehouse, strictly avoiding direct sunlight to prevent product degradation or quality fluctuation caused by light.

2. Shelf Life: Under the above standard storage conditions, the product has a shelf life of 1 year.

3. Special Note: Specific storage details (such as temperature and humidity control range) and transportation protection measures shall be subject to the Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS).

Operating Temperature: Maintain Structural Stability in a Wide Temperature Range

Lignin has excellent wide-temperature stability and can adapt to the working conditions of multiple scenarios:

• High-Temperature Stability: The structure is stable under conventional high-temperature environments. Only at about 60℃, the hydrocarbon hydroxyl group (-OH) in the molecule may undergo formyl (-COOCH3) reaction (a partial esterification reaction). This reaction does not damage the core structure of lignin and does not affect its performance.

• Low-Temperature Stability: No crystallization occurs even in an environment as low as -20℃.

Extended Reading

Carbon Black Granulation Binder - Background Technology

The carbon black industry has been continuously upgraded with the development of the rubber industry. Especially after the popularization of radial tire production lines, the requirements for high fastness and low fine powder content of carbon black have been significantly improved, promoting the transformation of granulation process from dry to wet.

Comparison of Mainstream Granulation Processes

• Dry Granulation: Powdered carbon black is bonded into granules by drum rolling and intermolecular forces. Its disadvantages include fine particles, low fastness, high fine powder content, high energy consumption and high pollution, so it has been gradually phased out.

• Wet Granulation: Carbon black powder is mixed with aqueous binder solution for granulation. The selection of binder directly determines the quality of finished products and is the core of the process.

Pain Points of Traditional Solid Binders

The previously mainstream solid sodium lignosulfonate , although convenient for transportation and storage, has obvious shortcomings:

• Application Side: Factories need to dilute and proportion by adding water by themselves, increasing operation steps.

• Production Side: The conversion from liquid to solid requires spray drying, which consumes a lot of energy (coal, steam) and produces wastewater and waste, polluting the environment.

Core Requirements for New Binders

Currently, two core requirements need to be met simultaneously: first, ensuring high fastness, good dispersion and low fine powder of carbon black finished products; second, achieving environmental friendliness with no dust and no odor during use. Liquid sodium lignosulphonate (SQBondex Series) is a new solution developed to meet these requirements.

A New Type of sodium lignosulphonate Carbon Black Granulation Binder

sodium lignosulphonate Carbon Black Granulation Binder: Comprehensive Explanation of Process, Form and Application

Preparation Process (100% Corn Stover Raw Material · Text Flow Chart)

Corn stover crushing → Add composite acid (sulfurous acid + phosphoric acid + sodium sulfite) → Hydrolysis at 140℃/0.5-0.7MPa (adjust solid content to 5.5-85wt%)

→ First solid-liquid separation (obtain sugar solution + xylose residue)

→ Wash xylose residue with 4 times volume of 100℃ hot water → Second separation (collect sugar solution)

→ Wash xylose residue with 2 times volume of 100℃ hot water → Third separation (reserve xylose residue + merge sugar solutions)

→ Concentrate merged sugar solution to 45wt% → Settle at 50℃ for 48h → Heat to 55℃ and neutralize with NaOH to pH=5

→ Double-stage plate and frame filtration at 50℃ (add pre-coating agent + filter aid) → Purified sugar solution

→ Chromatographic separation at 70℃/4m/h (distilled water elution + sodium resin) → sodium lignosulphonate

→ Mix with water → 800 Dalton membrane filtration at 40℃ (obtain 8-10wt% aqueous solution)

→ Concentrate to 40-60wt% at 70-80℃ → Spray drying (inlet air 260℃/outlet air 80℃) → Solid finished product

Core Indicators of Solid Finished Product: Moisture ＜7%, pH 4-6, reducing sugar (dry basis) ≤14-19wt%, water-insoluble matter (dry basis) ≤0.6wt%.

 

Product Form and Core Adaptability

 

Two forms (solid and liquid) are available, among which the liquid form with solid content ＞48% is more suitable for carbon black production, with advantages of:

 

• Environmental Friendliness: Reduce dust pollution from the source and help enterprises reduce carbon emissions.

• Cost Reduction and Efficiency Improvement: Eliminate the pretreatment of solid dissolution, shorten operation time and reduce labor intensity.

• Health Protection: No risk of dust exposure, protecting employees’ occupational health.

Practical Details of Liquid Form in Carbon Black Granulation

1. Addition Ratio: Add 1.2%-1.8% based on the dry weight of carbon black (e.g., add 12-18kg liquid binder for 1000kg carbon black). It can be adjusted according to the target particle fastness.

2. Mixing Method: Directly pump into the mixing system of the batching tank and granulation water, and stir simultaneously (rotating speed 300-500r/min) for ≥5min to ensure uniform dispersion.

3. Effect Guarantee: After addition, the fastness of carbon black particles is stably ≥92%, fine powder content ≤2.5%, and forming qualification rate ≥96%, which is suitable for mainstream wet granulation equipment (such as drum granulators and extrusion granulators).

Industrial Application Value

1. Performance Upgrade: With only 1%-2% addition amount, the specific surface area of carbon black can be increased by 15%-20%, and the adsorption performance can be optimized, adapting to the demand for high-fastness carbon black in radial tires.

2. Green Compliance: Using corn stover as raw material (100% renewable), no wastewater is discharged during production, which meets GB 31572-2015 Emission Standard of Pollutants for Synthetic Resin Industry.

Application Value and Industrial Significance

1. Performance Empowerment: As a key additive for carbon black manufacturing, with an addition amount of only 1%-2%, it can significantly improve the specific surface area, adsorption performance and particle hardness of carbon black. Its ability to optimize finished product quality has been verified by more than ten years of customer practice.

2. Green Attribute: Relying on biomass refining technology, it uses 100% renewable and biodegradable corn stover as raw material, helping enterprises reduce carbon emissions and endow products with sustainable development value.