Gandhidham: Off-Highway tyre manufacturer Balkrishna Industries Limited (BKT) is investing $23m in an eight-hectare production facility for carbon black at its tyre plant in the state of Gujarat, India. Carbon black is used as a reinforcing filler in tyres as its paracrystalline carbon form helps conduct heat away from the tread and belt area of the tyre, reducing thermal damage and increasing tyre life. The production capacity of the facility will be about 60,000 tonnes/year.The backward integration project is another step forward in the company’s middle-and-long-term strategy to increase the overall capacity and production at the Bhuj site.The 120-hectare Bhuj plant was inaugurated in 2015, following $500m of initial investment by BKT, and has the capacity to produce 140,000 tonnes of tyre products a year.