A review with 25 refs. covering carbon black types, the old (channel and furnace) manufacturing processes and their drawbacks, and novel, especially nonequilibrium plasma techniques (e.g., Kvaerner Engineering process, Fulcheri et al.'s process) using no oxygen (no emission of CO and CO2), consuming less energy at 200-2000 K, producing new thermal black types, and offering H-2 as a valuable by-product.