Tannin Treated Water for use in the Emulsion Polymerization of SBR. Evaluation of Rubber Characteristics

Abstract

The use of products from vegetal source, as tannins, in the treatment of industrial waters has been the focus of increasing attention since it contributes to a reduction of the toxicity brought about by the residues generated during the water treatment process. Nevertheless, in an industrial plant any modifi cation to be introduced in the production process has to meet a few standards as the new procedures can alter the characteristics of the fi nal product. In this work, tannin was used to treat the water for the production of emulsion SBR and the characteristics of the rubber obtained are evaluated. As SBR is an extensively used general purpose rubber, the properties must be kept as close as possible to those presented by the product prepared with water treated in the conventional way. Thus, a comparative study was done, by carrying out emulsion polymerizations in water treated conventionally with aluminum sulfate or with tannin. The results show that the presence of tannin does not signifi cantly affect the characteristics of the fi nal product as long as its concentration is carefully controlled.