# What carbon dioxide and methane defaults does the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change give for carbon black made by the furnace, thermal or acetylene process?

Canonical: https://senseible.earth/answers/carbon-black-furnace-thermal-acetylene-ipcc-defaults

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 2006 guide gives 2.62 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) a tonne of carbon black for the furnace process, 5.25 for thermal and 0.78 for acetylene. Methane is 0.06 kg a tonne with thermal treatment of the tail gas and 28.7 without.

## CO2 by process (Table 3.23, tonnes of CO2 a tonne of carbon black)

- Furnace black, the default process: primary feedstock 1.96 plus secondary feedstock 0.66, total 2.62.
- Thermal black: 4.59 plus 0.66, total 5.25.
- Acetylene black: 0.12 plus 0.66, total 0.78.
- The guide says about 95 percent of world production is by the furnace process, and about 90 percent of all carbon black goes into the tire and rubber industry. The factors are an average of ranges in a European 2005 draft reference document, converted using average feedstock carbon contents, and cover CO2 only. The guide says they assume process emissions are thermally treated. Tier 1 CO2 factors in the chapter do not include carbon leaving as carbon monoxide, methane or non-methane volatile organic compounds.

## Methane (Table 3.24, kg of methane a tonne of carbon black)

- No thermal treatment of the tail gas: 28.7. It comes from 10,000 normal cubic metres of tail gas a tonne at 0.425 percent methane by volume.
- Thermal treatment, the default: 0.06. The 99.8 percent flare efficiency is the draft document's figure for carbon monoxide, and the guide assumes the same for methane.
- The guide also notes 0.11 from Australian company data and 0.03 from three German plants after waste gas combustion.

## What the methane gap could be worth

At an example global warming potential (GWP) of 28, 28.7 kg of methane is about 804 kg of CO2 equivalent a tonne, 31 percent of the furnace process's 2.62 tonnes of CO2. With thermal treatment, 0.06 kg is under 2 kg of CO2 equivalent. So the question for a supplier is not only which process but whether the tail gas is thermally treated. Our reading: the CO2 factors assume thermal treatment, so adding the 28.7 kg case to them mixes two cases. That case needs the plant's own balance.

## Using the defaults

Our reading: these are national inventory defaults built on European plants. A buyer asking about a specific Indian plant should get that plant's own carbon balance, as set out on the linked page, with the defaults as a sanity check. Count feedstock oil once, as the linked page sets out.

## A plant making 10,000 tonnes of carbon black a year (example quantity)

- Furnace process: 10,000 x 2.62 = 26,200 tonnes of CO2
- Thermal process: 10,000 x 5.25 = 52,500 tonnes of CO2, twice as much
- Methane, no thermal treatment: 10,000 x 28.7 = 287,000 kg, 287 tonnes, which is 8,036 tonnes of CO2 equivalent at GWP 28
- Methane, thermal treatment: 10,000 x 0.06 = 600 kg, 0.6 tonne, which is 16.8 tonnes of CO2 equivalent

Quantity and the GWP of 28 are examples. The guide says its CO2 factors assume thermal treatment of process emissions, so the 28.7 kg case needs the plant's own balance rather than a sum with the 2.62.

## What Senseible does here

Senseible reads fuel invoices and electricity bills into dated, fingerprinted records, so your kilowatt-hours and litres are on file by date. It does not model carbon black plants. Fuel and power bills cover the energy side; feedstock and tail gas need your plant records.

- [CO2 per tonne of carbon black](https://senseible.earth/answers/carbon-black-co2-per-tonne)
- [Is carbon black covered by CBAM?](https://senseible.earth/answers/is-carbon-black-covered-by-cbam)
- [Tyre carbon footprint per unit](https://senseible.earth/answers/tyre-carbon-footprint-per-unit)
- [Your MSME carbon number](https://senseible.earth/msme-carbon-number)

Sources: [IPCC 2006 Guidelines, Volume 3, Chapter 3: Chemical industry (section 3.9, Tables 3.23 and 3.24, Box 3.13)](https://www.ipcc-nggip.iges.or.jp/public/2006gl/pdf/3_Volume3/V3_3_Ch3_Chemical_Industry.pdf)

Last reviewed 2026-11-06. Defaults are from the 2006 guidelines. A plant carbon balance replaces them.