The Study of Liquid Smoke as Substitutions in Coagulating Latex to the Quality of Crumb Rubber

Abstract

The use of formic acid in processing rubber is considered unaffordable in large-scale plantations. However, the demands of this acid are increasing as the number of rubber plantations increases higher. In addition to solve this challenge, the use of liquid smoke has been considered promising substitutes although its most suitable composition has not been estimated yet. To understand the effect of liquid smoke as coagulant material in rubber industries, a research is conducted by mixing of the coagulant material (combination of liquid smoke synthesized from coconut shell and formic acid) onto latex. Characterizations are performed to analyse the quality of the coagulated rubber, and they are the initial plasticity, the plasticity Retention Index, the dirt content, the ash content, the content of dry rubber. The result showed that the formulation of liquid smoke and formic acid give effect to produce crumb rubber and quality rubber appropriate of Standard Indonesian Rubber (SIR) 20.