Liquid Coal Smoke Processing on Latex Structure and Quality

Abstract

Rubber productivity in Indonesia has a low value both in terms of quantity and quality when compared to other rubber producing countries such as Malaysia and Thailand. The lack of knowledge of rubber farmers about processing rubber processed materials and the latex freezing process is one of the causes of the low quality of rubber in Indonesia. In this study, grade III and non-grade coal liquid smoke with concentrations of 10%, 25%, 45%, 50%, and 60% was used as a latex coagulant to obtain good agglomeration and rubber quality. The resulting rubber coagulum was ground and air dried. Furthermore, quality measurements were carried out using the SNI-06-1903-2000 method. The results showed that grade III and non-grade coal liquid smoke could thicken latex well starting from grade III and the concentration of non-grade coal liquid smoke was 25%. The higher the concentration of grade III liquid smoke and non-grade coal used, the smaller the dirt content, ash content, volatile matter content, and the color of the rubber coagulum becomes brownish to black after some time. In the study, it was found that 10% and 25% of 10% and 25% non-grade coal liquid smoke could not inhibit bacterial growth due to the low content of acid compounds in liquid smoke, up to 5 days of storage. caterpillars grow in the coagulum. The optimum concentration of liquid coal smoke, both grade III and non-grade in latex coagulation is a concentration of 45%, the required concentration is not too large, but the rubber produced from the coagulation process has good quality and meets SNI standards. The structure of the rubber is influenced by its quality, the lower the quality of the rubber, the more holes the rubber will have because lumps cannot occur perfectly, as a result, the rubber will have holes and break easily when pulled.