Recovered Carbon Black Europe Conference is returning in 2026, with over 350 rCB representatives expected to join us in November. As Europe's leading rCB industry event, the conference provides a unique opportunity for delegates to get the latest industry information and network face-to-face with global experts.
Highlights Include:
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Biography to follow
Jorge Almeida is heading the sustainability department at Continental Tires . In this role, he is responsible for the strategic direction and global management of all sustainability and ESSH (Environmental, Safety, Security and Health) activities of the premium tire manufacturer. Almeida has been with Continental for more than 30 years in various functions and regions. He has extensive experience in Finance, Human Relations, and Purchasing. Most recently, the 56-year-old led the business activities of the Tires business in the Andina region (covering Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela). Prior to that, he served as Head of Purchasing and Strategic Sourcing for rubber as well as indirect materials.
Education:
Ph.D., Department of Polymer Science and Chemical Engineering, Pusan National University, Republic of Korea (2017–2021). Thesis: “Emulsion Styrene Butadiene Rubber Polymerized by Reversible Addition-Fragmentation Transfer Technology for Tire Tread Compounds” (Advisor: Prof. Wonho Kim)
B.S., Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Pusan National University, Republic of Korea (2013–2017)
Work Experience
2021.03–Present: Hankook Tire & Technology R&D Center, Sustainable Material PJT, Senior Manager
Research Interests:
• Synthesis of F-ESBR by emulsion polymerization (ESBR with glycidyl methacrylate (GMA) as third monomer) and effect of F-ESBR on the properties of silica compounds
• Synthesis of reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) ESBR with narrow molecular weight distribution
• Compound testing for tire tread (manufacturing and property evaluation)
• Analysis of crosslink structure mechanism for rubber compound
• Sustainable and recycled materials for the tire industry
• Development of sustainable compounds using sustainable materials
Celso Magri is Global Marketing and Sustainability Director at Orion, a global carbon black producer. He has 25 years of experience in the chemical industry, leading business and marketing organisations globally. He has lived and worked in South and North America and in 4 European countries and has extensive experience in Asia. He is passionate about sustainability and has led Life Cycle Analysis of different polymers for several applications while working for Dow Chemical, Styron, and Trinseo. He worked with the plastics value chain to design products to reduce the overall environmental impact.
His job at Orion is to develop and implement the sustainability strategy for the Rubber Business, working with the tire value chain on the transition to the tire circular economy.
With over 20 years of international experience in the industrial gases industry across Europe and Southeast Asia, Iván Pérez is a Chemical Engineer specialized in the development and implementation of industrial gas technologies. Throughout his career at Messer, he has helped customers optimize processes, improve product quality, increase energy efficiency, and achieve sustainability objectives. Combining technical expertise with commercial and business development experience, he has successfully supported projects across a wide range of industrial sectors including tire pyrolysis recycling.
Paul Ita runs Notch Consulting, a Massachusetts-based research company dedicated to the market research needs of the global specialty chemicals industry. Mr. Ita focuses on raw materials for the global tire and rubber industries, with a particular focus on carbon black, silica, and rubber chemicals. Through Notch, he publishes the Carbon Black World Data Book and the Carbon Black Quarterly Newsletter.
Anil Nandakumar is the Marketing Head - Asia at Birla Carbon with over 22 years of experience in Marketing, Customer experience and new product introduction through the globe.
Holds a background in chemical engineering with experience in process design, automation, and technology development. Krzysztof joined Contec in 2016, became CEO at 26, and has since driven the company’s technological growth and client relations. Previously, he worked in R&D Team at Warsaw University of Technology and Grupa Azoty, and as an entrepreneur.
After achieving a summa cum laude M.Sc Degree in Chemical Engineering in Rome in 1994 on organic Materials, Mr Cialone devoted himself to the tire industry from 1995 until today. Over the last 29 years, Massimo has worked for international global companies in different roles in R&D, where he was able to gain expertise in both raw materials to compounding as well as processing. He joined Hankook - European Technical Center in 2015, where he serves a Material and Compounding Chief Specialist. Since 2019 his major focus is the development of innovative materials in the field of sustainability as well as coordinating research project in the EU area.
Alex finished his PhD at Imperial College London last year, where he published six papers related to tyre recycling, recovered carbon materials, and waste treatment in internationally recognised journals. Alex undertook numerous consultancy projects alongside his PhD and was awarded the departmental prize for the best thesis submitted in 2023. Alex now works as a Process Engineer at Orion Engineered Carbons, a major manufacturer of carbon black, where he contributes to a range of Innovation projects.
Martin von Wolfersdorff, trading as "Wolfersdorff Consulting Berlin”, is an expert advisor and business partner of Smithers specialising in sustainable carbon blacks. Martin works with Smithers on carbon black consulting projects, writes Smithers reports and is the founder and business partner of the recovered Carbon Black Conference. Martin's corporate assignments were in carbon black, plastic packaging, plastic masterbatch and titanium dioxide. Martin has a Dipl. Ing. (Univ.) degree in chemical engineering from the FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg in Germany.
Raffaele di Ronza is the senior application and technical solutions manager for the
Reinforcement Materials business segment at Cabot Corporation. He currently leads the EMEA technical team, which is focused on reinforcing carbons and elastomer composite solutions for tire and industrial rubber applications. With over 20 years of experience in the chemical industry, specifically in rubber value chains, he has also held various roles in R&D, particularly in tires. Raffaele earned an Executive Master of Business Administration from Politecnico di Milano and a master's degree in Industrial Chemistry from the Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico.
