Application of Different Vegetable Oils as Processing Aids in Industrial Rubber Composites: A Sustainable Approach

Abstract

Rubber composites based on renewable vegetable oils are being increasingly developed, as these materials significantly reduce the use of petroleum-based carcinogenic oils as plasticizers in rubber products. Apart from renewability, vegetable oils have some major advantages, such as easy availability, biodegradability, and environmentally friendly nature. Until now, vegetable oils, such as palm oil, soybean oil, and linseed oil, have been successfully used as processing oils to replace petroleumbased oils in engineered rubber composites. So far, the concept of a vegetable-oil-based plasticizer has been applied to rubber composites containing different industrially important fillers, like carbon black, silica, calcium carbonate, and expandable graphite. In the near future, the trend of utilizing vegetable-oil-based plasticizers may bring considerable advancements in the performance of filled rubber composites in an environmentally acceptable and sustainable manner.

Enabling Green Manufacture of Polymer Products via Vegetable Oil Epoxides

“…16,93−95 Examples include epoxides of linseed oil, palm oil, and soybean oil. 13,26,96 Such vegetable oil based plasticizers were confined to laboratory scale, but lately, international tire companies like Goodyear have started to use it on a commercial scale, notably the soybean oil. Modified soybean oil, orange oil from orange peels, castor oil, and cashew derived resins, liquid guayule rubber, etc.…”

“…Further, vegetable oil epoxides are replacing the petroleum based carcinogenic oils in the rubber industries due to the latter’s toxicity and former’s environmental safe and biodegradable nature coupled with easy availability. ,− Examples include epoxides of linseed oil, palm oil, and soybean oil. ,, Such vegetable oil based plasticizers were confined to laboratory scale, but lately, international tire companies like Goodyear have started to use it on a commercial scale, notably the soybean oil. Modified soybean oil, orange oil from orange peels, castor oil, and cashew derived resins, liquid guayule rubber, etc.…”

“…Modified soybean oil, orange oil from orange peels, castor oil, and cashew derived resins, liquid guayule rubber, etc. have also been reported to achieve specialized rolling resistance and traction parameters in tires. − Norbornylized soybean oil and the liquid guayule plasticizers were even reported to have been tested in representative tire formulations with carbon black and silica filled styrene–butadiene rubber and natural rubber (SBR and NR), with up to 2% increase in tensile strength compared to a conventional SBR/NR system. , Thus, for tire formula integration, academic research concentrating on investigation of effect of plasticizers on the rolling resistance, wet traction, and abrasion resistance of the vulcanizates need to be explored even further. It will be very beneficial toward assessment of its commercialization prospective.…”

The Road to Sustainable Tire Materials: Current State-of-the-Art and Future Prospectives

“…Further, soybean oil has also come up as a sustainable plasticizer commercially . Moreover, modified soybean oil, liquid guayule rubber, orange oil from orange peels, castor oil, and cashew derived resins, etc., have also been reported to achieve specialized rolling resistance and traction parameters. ,, In regard to the modified soybean oil, known as the norbornylized soybean oil, and the liquid guayule, these two plasticizers were even reported to have tested with carbon black and silica filled SBR and NR formulations. , It is clear that the evaluation criteria for new sustainable plasticizers need to have the following two main aspects: (1) investigation of the effect of plasticizers on the wet traction, rolling resistance, and abrasion resistance of the vulcanizates and (2) a meticulous comparison with analogous CB and silica-filled tire formulations.…”

“…Earlier process oils such as naphthenic oil, paraffinic oil, and aromatic oil were later replaced by low polyaromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) oils . Lately, vegetable oils are replacing the petroleum-based carcinogenic oils in the rubber industries due to their easy availability, environmental safety, and biodegradable nature. , Examples include soybean oil, linseed oil, and palm oil and its epoxides. − Until very recently, such vegetable oil-based plasticizers were confined to the laboratory scale, but tire companies have started to use it on a commercial scale, notably the soybean oil usage reports by Goodyear. Further, soybean oil has also come up as a sustainable plasticizer commercially .…”