Upcycling of Waste Polyethylene and Cement Kiln Dust to Produce Polymeric Composite Sheets Using Gamma Irradiation

Cement kiln dust (CKD) is a residue produced during the manufacture of cement that contains hazardous solid waste of high toxicity that affects the environment and public health. In this study, the possibility of using cement waste as a filler in the plastic and rubber industry was studied. Different concentrations of (CKD) and gamma irradiation on the mechanical, thermal stability of the prepared composites sheets were investigated. Different concentrations of (CKD) 10, 15, 20, 30, 35, and 40 wt % were prepared with double screw extrusion by mixing waste polyethylene (WPE), de-vulcanized rubber (DWR), and EPDM rubber. These prepared composites were irradiated with doses 25, 50, 75, 100, and 150 kGy to study the effect of radiation on the physical, mechanical properties, and thermal stability of the prepared composite sheets. The prepared composite sheets were characterized and verified by FTIR and soluble fractions. The morphology of the composite sheets was investigated by SEM. Mechanical and thermal properties were investigated to evaluate the possibility of its application in the plastic and rubber industry.

INCREASING PRODUCTION WEIGHT OF MODIFIED-BIOSILICA FROM RICE HUSK AND ITS APPLICATIONS AS REINFORCING FILLER IN RUBBER FINISHED GOODS

Biosilica from rice husks has a potential that can be used as a reinforcing filler in the production of rubber finished goods displace mine silica. But it’s difficult to disperse homogenetically into a rubber finished goods, so it needs to modify the surface using a coupling agent sign. The capacity for the production of modified-biosilica would need to be at a great level to meet the needs of the rubber industry. The purpose of the research is to identify the characteristics of the modified-biosilica by silane TESPT (bis-(3-triethoxysilylpropyl) tetrasulfane) that resulted from increasing the weight of biosilica in the production process and the application as reinforcing filler on the rubber. Increasing of weight in the production process was done gradually on a scale of 0.5; 1; 2; and 5 kg of biosilica per process using a mixer-propeller. The technique on surface modifications was using a one-step modification (OSM) and two-step modification (TSM). Surface modification treatment using TESPT has increased the uniformity of the particle size distribution of the biosilica. Unmodified-biosilica has an average particle size of 717.1 nm (PDI 0.600), while modified-biosilica has an average particle size of 574.6 nm (PDI 0.585). Applications for reinforcing filler in the soles rubber industry are performed in PT Triangkasa Lestari Utama. Research indicates that increasing the weight of biosilica on the surface modifications did not significantly affect the density, lightness, crystallinity, and purity. The applications as reinforcing fillers have increased the quality of rubber finished goods compared with unmodified-biosilica. The best rubber finished goods quality approaching shoes-sol standards is a product that used modified-biosilica by OSM technique. This rubber finished goods has a tensile strength of 5.80 MPa, elongation at break of 425%, tear strength of 23.25% and abrasion resistance of 251.5 mm3 .

The use of illite in function of filler applied in rubber blend

The presented work was dealing with the study of the commercial filler influence change in rubber blend by an alternative filler based on the clay mineral - illite. The focus of the presented work was aimed at the study of selected curing characteristics of rubber blend with addition of clay mineral filler and physico-mechanical properties of prepared vulcanizates. Curing characteristics, the processing safety, minimum and maximum torque, optimal curing time and curing rate coefficient were determined during the curing experiment phase. Selected physico-mechanical properties were given by the determination of hardness, tensibility and tensile strength. The obtained results proved the possibility of partial commercial filler replacement by an alternative filler and the positive effect of clay mineral on resulting important properties in rubber industry.

Utilizing Pyrolytic Biomass Products for Rubber Reinforcement: Effect of the Silica Content in Biomass Feed Stocks

Biochar has been exploited as a substitution of carbon black in the rubber industry and various biochars exhibit diverse reinforcing abilities due to the different compositions. This work aims at studying the effect of silica on the modification process and reinforcing performance through the comparison of three biochars with different contents of silica, pyrolytic rice husks (PRH, 34 wt%), pyrolytic bamboos (PB, 7 wt%) and pyrolytic corn cobs (PC, 0.4 wt%). The results reveal that PRH requires higher rotational speed (300 min–1) than PB (200 min–1) and PC (200 min–1) to achieve similar particle sizes during the ball milling process because of the aggregations of higher silica content. Meanwhile, silica-rich pyrolytic biomass exhibits enhanced reinforcement on mechanical properties and thermal stability of rubber, and the elongation at break of vulcanizates continues to improve with increasing silica contents. Combined with the energy consumption and reinforcement, biochar containing a little amount of silica is more suitable to be widely used as bio-filler in rubber industry. This work should serve as a valuable reference to select appropriate biochar for the production of bio-fillers with high reinforcement.

Productivity from the different rubber-based farming system models in Cotabato Province, Philippines

In the Philippines, the production of rubber cup lumps has decreased in recent years. Despite the expansion of the rubber industry for environmental and economic benefits, knowledge about the productivity and income of the rubber-based farming system is minimal. Hence, this research assessed and estimated the productivity and income of farmers from the different rubber-based farming system models in Cotabato Province, Philippines, where one of the major crops is rubber. It is important to determine the productivity of rubber and how its productivity was affected by the introduction of other crops. Through this, the income of farmers and welfare were measured. This research was carried out in 2016, where rubber was among the priority crops being promoted in the area. It investigated 3 different rubber-based farming models, namely: FM1 (rubber+ banana), FM2 (rubber+ cacao), and FM3 (rubber+ coconut). The study revealed that the farmers’ income increased by engaging in intercropping compared to the monocropping system. Thus, as the income of the farmer increases, the household’s basic needs, particularly food consumption, will be attained since income does not solely depend on rubber production but also other crops grown. The result also shows that farming model 3 provides higher returns to the farmers than the other rubber-based farming models. Hence, the study is useful for the farmers to adopt different rubber-based farming systems to increase income and reduce risks from farming. This study also serves as a basis for the policymakers for future agricultural development.

Re-layout of Temporary Storage Area for Toxic and Hazardous Waste using 5S (Seiri, Seiton, Seiso, Seiketsu, Sitsuke)

One of the industries that produces toxic and hazardous waste is rubber industry. This study was conducted in PT. Famili Raya. The problem was toxic and hazardous waste placed in an irregular placement and no follow the government regulations for storing and managing. This aims of this study were to redesign temporary storage area for hazardous waste based on 5S (Seiri, Seiton, Seiso, Seiketsu, Shitsuke) and the regulation, Minister of Environment and Forestry No. 12/2020. The object of this study was temporary storage area for toxic and hazardous waste in PT. Famili Raya. The data used were current condition, actual dimensions of temporary storage area, dimensions of waste, input and output data, and dimensions of a forklift. The results obtained were the proposed layout using the 5S approach could be used to redesign the storage layout in the temporary storage area. Space utility could be reduced by 32,67%. The decrease in space utility did not reduce the maximum storage capacity for used batteries, used tubular lamp, used oil waste, and turpentine oil waste.

Performance Analysis of Tyre Manufacturing System in the SMEs Using RAMD Approach

In the recent trends, production plants in the automobile industries all over the world are facing a lot of challenges to achieve better productivity and customer satisfaction due to increasing the passenger’s necessity and demand for transportation. In this direction, the belt, tyre, and tube manufacturing plants act as vital roles in the day-to-day life of the automobile industries. Tyre production plant comprises five major units, namely, raw material selection, preparation, tyre components, finishing, and inspection. The main purpose of this research is to implement the new method to predict the most critical subsystems in the tyre manufacturing system of the rubber industry. As mathematically, any one maintenance parameter among reliability, availability, maintainability, and dependability (RAMD) parameters is evaluated to identify the critical subsystems and their effect on the effectiveness of the tyre production system. In this research, the effect of variation in maintenance indices, RAMD, is measured to identify the critical subsystem of the tyre production system based on the mathematical modeling Markov birth-death approach (MBDA), and the equations of the subsystems are derived by using the Chapman–Kolmogorov method. Besides, it also calculates the performance of certain maintenance parameters concerning time such as mean time between failures (MTBF), mean time to repair (MTTR), and dependability ratio for each subsystem of the tyre production system. Finally, RAMD analysis of the tyre production systems has been executed for predicting the most critical subsystem by changing the rates of failure and repair of individual subsystems with the utilization of MATLAB software. RAMD analysis reveals that the subsystem bias cutting is most critical with the minimum availability of 0.8387, dependability 5.19, dependability ratio 0.8701, and maximum MTTR 38.46 hours of the subsystem. In this implementation of the proposed method, a real-time case study of the industrial repairable system of tyre manufacturing system has been taken for evaluating RAMD indices of the production plant of rubber industry cited in the southern region of Tamil Nadu, India.