Monolith signs agreement with Goodyear on carbon black for its tire production

In Nebraska, Monolith signed a collaboration agreement and letter of intent with The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company to collaborate on the development and potential use of clean carbon black produced through its proprietary pyrolysis process and new technology that uses renewable electricity to convert natural gas into high-purity carbon black and hydrogen.

Monolith’s carbon black enables manufacturers like Goodyear to meet sustainability goals and demand for clean materials.

Monolith expects to begin construction on its expanded Olive Creek facility in 2022, with completion scheduled for 2025. Once complete, Monolith’s Olive Creek facility will produce 194,000 tonnes of cleanly made carbon black annually, along with 275,000 tonnes of clean ammonia. When fully commissioned, the facility will be the largest manufacturer of carbon black in the U.S. and the first built in the country in over 50 years.

Carbon black is an essential material found in countless everyday products, but perhaps most notably in tires. Conventional carbon black is produced by burning decant oil or coal tar, releasing large amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Monolith, through its proprietary pyrolysis process, has developed and perfected a new technology that uses renewable electricity to convert natural gas into high-purity carbon black and hydrogen. This clean, environmentally responsible process creates nearly zero local emissions and significantly reduced life-cycle emissions overall. Through Monolith’s methane pyrolysis technology, the company is able to prevent an estimated 2.3 tons of CO2 from being released for every ton of carbon black produced compared to traditional manufacturing processes. Monolith’s expanded facility is projected to save nearly 1 million tons of CO2 from entering the atmosphere compared to traditional carbon black, hydrogen and ammonia manufacturing.