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Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) were synthesized in skim natural rubber latex, the by-product from concentrated latex production. The role of ammonia was investigated by varying the concentration to be 0.217, 0.362, 0.377, 0.392, and 0.406 wt%. The emergence of AgNPs was detected by UV-visible spectrophotometer and electrical conductivity meter. Upon increasing ammonia concentration, the ABS peak increased to a maximum and slightly shifted to a higher wavelength and then it decreased afterward and slightly shifted to a lower wavelength. The shift of the ABS peak was consistent with the conductivity result. The kinetic model was proposed to explain the competition between the reducing effect and size-controlling effect of ammonia. The reducing effect seemed to dominate in the low range of concentration while the size-controlling effect via the formation of AgNH32+ complex ion was important in the higher range. The TEM figures evidently confirmed the effects.

Nanofibrous mats were obtained from electrospinning Nylon-6 solutions with concentrations of 30 and 35 wt% and were tested for filtration of polystyrene particles in suspension. Some experimental results were compared with the simulated ones. In the simulation, the two-dimensional structures were constructed by randomly depositing a nanofiber, which was assumed as an ellipse with an aspect ratio of 100, one by one. The nanofiber size is assumed to be polydisperse. The results showed that simulated configurations resembled real nanofibers with polydisperse diameters. Fibers from higher solution concentration were larger, resulting in larger pore size, which was confirmed with simulations. Varying the size distribution around the same average value did not make any difference to the surface coverage but it affected 2D pore areas for the systems at low fiber density. In addition, the probability for a particle to pass through the porous structure was less when the fiber density was higher and the particle diameter was larger, which was consistent with the filtration test. Lastly, water flux measurement could yield the void volume fraction as well as the volume-averaged pore diameter, which was found to be greater than the averaged 2D pore diameter from SEM micrographs by the quantity related to the fiber size.

Protein extractions from skim natural rubber latex using 3 %w/v polyethylene glycol (PEG6000) via both low speed centrifugation and continuous flow were investigated. In centrifugal extraction, when the speed was 1000 rpm, the extractable protein (EP) content in serum increased with processing time from 5 to 30 min and when the time was fixed at 5 min, EP content increased with centrifugal speed. In addition, further washing deproteinized chips with 2 %w/v SDS solution could remove proteins with efficiencies corresponding to the efficiencies of protein removals in latex phase, implying the role of PEG in protein reduction in both steps. In continuous flow extraction, EP content increased with increasing Reynolds number or increasing mean residence time of the flow to a maximum and then dropped. The efficiencies of the centrifugal extraction and continuous flow extraction were 55.2 and 33.7%, respectively.

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