In the wave of global automotive industry's transition to new energy, the upgrading of tire performance has become a key breakthrough. In this transformation, a nanoscale material called "white carbon black" is quietly playing a central role. As an important branch of silicon-based new materials, white carbon black, with its unique physical and chemical properties, not only reshapes the competitive landscape of the tire industry, but also demonstrates irreplaceable value in high-end fields such as aerospace, electronic packaging, and biomedicine.


The 'Performance Code' for Green Tires
Traditional tires use carbon black as a reinforcing agent, which can improve wear resistance, but high rolling resistance leads to low fuel efficiency and insufficient grip on wet and slippery roads. The emergence of white carbon black completely changed this situation. Its nanoscale porous structure (specific surface area of 145-300m ²/g) and silicon hydroxyl surface characteristics enable it to form a three-dimensional network structure in the rubber matrix, significantly reducing rolling resistance. According to data from Shanzhen Industrial Laboratory, using its GreenThinking ® The rolling resistance coefficient of EG22 filler reinforced tires can be reduced to below 5.2kg/t, which is 20% lower than traditional products and helps to increase the range of new energy vehicles by 8% -10%; At the same time, the braking distance in wetlands has been shortened by 3-5 meters, greatly improving driving safety in rainy weather.


This breakthrough is due to the synergistic effect of white carbon black and silane coupling agent. By using targeted modification technology to reduce the surface hydroxyl content, the dispersion uniformity of white carbon black particles has been improved by 40%, solving the pain point of easy aggregation in traditional materials. For example, in passenger tire treads, the combination of highly dispersed white carbon black and solution polymers can reduce fuel consumption by 30% and extend tread life by 15%. At present, top tire companies around the world such as Michelin and Bridgestone have made white carbon black a standard feature of their high-end products, accounting for over 65% of the tread rubber used.


Technological iteration: from precipitation method to biobased
The production process of white carbon black can be divided into two main routes: precipitation method and gas-phase method. The precipitation method uses water glass and sulfuric acid as raw materials, with low cost but limited product purity; The gas-phase method produces nanoscale products (particle size 10-40nm) through high-temperature hydrolysis of silicon tetrachloride, with a purity of 99.8%, but at a high price. In recent years, industry technological breakthroughs have focused on two major directions:


Green Manufacturing: The modified biobased white carbon black developed by the Petrochemical Institute uses rice husk and carbon dioxide as raw materials. Through in-situ green modification technology, it achieves a performance breakthrough of reducing rolling resistance by 3.7% and fatigue temperature rise by 15%, and the production cost is reduced by 20% compared to traditional processes. This technology has passed the full range of tire performance tests and meets the conditions for industrial mass production.
Improvement of high dispersivity: in view of the problem that precipitated silica is easy to agglomerate, enterprises optimize the particle size distribution through the sol gel method or reverse micellar micro lotion method. For example, the HT3 # product developed by Quecheng Corporation has a specific surface area of 300m ²/g, which can significantly improve tear resistance and heat resistance in construction machinery tires.
Market pattern: China leads global expansion
According to QYResearch statistics, the global market size of white carbon black will reach 43.6 billion yuan by 2025, with the tire sector accounting for 35% and consumer sectors such as toothpaste and coatings accounting for 15%. As the world's largest producer, China accounts for over 60% of its production capacity, and companies such as Quancheng Corporation and Zhuzhou Xinglong have entered the top ten globally. In terms of regional markets, the East China region, with its complete industrial chain supporting facilities, accounts for 45% of domestic production, while Shandong has become the largest consumer market due to the cluster effect of the tire industry.


In the future, with the promotion of the "dual carbon" policy, the demand for white carbon black will continue to tilt towards high-end products. It is expected that by 2032, the global market size will exceed 60 billion yuan, with a compound annual growth rate of 5.2%. Among them, the growth rate of sub sectors such as bio based white carbon black and gas-phase nano products will exceed 10%, becoming a new engine for industry growth.