Phillips Carbon Black unveils state-of-the-art Sushila Goenka Research and Development Centre in Gujarat

KOLKATA: Phillips Carbon Black chairman Sanjiv Goenka on Thursday unveiled the company’s state-of-the-art Sushila Goenka Research and Development Centre located at Palej, Gujarat.
Spread over 27,000 square feet (sq.ft.) on a sprawling land area of 8 lakh sq.ft., the R&D Centre entailed an initial investment of Rs 20 crore. Headed by an American expert, the centre currently employs 30 eminent researchers, both men and women. It will facilitate development of new products required by tyre and other industries across the world and pave way for new uses of carbon black in more areas including engineering plastics, fibres, food contact plastics, wire & cables, ink, paints, batteries and other applications.

The centre has several laboratories, such as ‘Carbon and Carbon Nano-Structure Laboratory’, ‘Carbon Functionalization Laboratory’, ‘Carbon Feedstock Research Laboratory’, ‘Interface & Colloidal Dispersion Laboratory’ and ‘Plastic Application Laboratory’. The new centre will also serve as a seeding ground for new products and process development, as well as for partnering with customers and vendors for customising products and processes.

After digitally unveiling the Sushila Goenka R&D Centre at Palej for its carbon black business, Goenka told mediapersons that the group has increased its budget for R&D by five times in the next 2-3 years to come up with various products in different segments. The group expects to roll out two distinct products in the next three months to boost profitability.

The RP-Sanjiv Goenka group is also scouting for space across Europe to open another R&D centre, he added.

With an installed annual capacity of 5,71,000 mtpa carbon black as on 31st March 2019, Phillips Carbon Black Limited presently operates four strategically located plants at Durgapur, Kochi, Mundra and Palej. The company is the largest carbon black producer in India and the 7th largest in the world with its products being used in more than 30 countries.