Background

The coagulation and putrefaction of fresh natural rubber latex, before processing into rubber sheets, is a serious problem. This is because the latex has a short shelf life, approximately 4-6 hours, so it is needed to be sold as soon as possible. This problem is more pronounced in the area of poor transportation infrastructure where rubber is grown because it would take more time to transport the latex from the plantation fields to the rubber sheet processing plants.

In addition, rubber latex farmers always face problems from the short-term oversupply of fresh latex during peak season. What they need is to be able to extend the shelf life of the fresh latex to ensure that the supply can be better matched the demand.

To remedy this issue, farmers normally use chemicals such as ammonia or sodium sulfite to extend the shelf life. However, these chemicals pose some serious problems. Ammonia has a pungent odor and is harmful to both workers and the environment, whereas, sodium sulfite can lead to the formation of air bubbles in the rubber sheets, thus lower its quality and price.

Solution

To overcome this problem, a new technology “BeThEPS” has been developed.  BeThEPS (Be Thai Economic Preservative for Rubber Sheet) provides the same benefit of extending shelf life by eliminating the coagulation and putrefaction problems.  BeThEPS does not have the detrimental side effects associated with ammonia and sodium sulfite.

Benefits

• Extending the shelf life of fresh latex up to 1-3 days
• Easy to mix with fresh latex in liquid form.
• Reducing the need for frequent transport thus leading to lower costs.
• Reducing the risk of fresh latex coagulation and putrefaction.
• Increasing the ratio of high grade rubber sheets.
• Improving the quality of rubber sheets by making them a better choice as raw material for tires, automotive parts, conveyor belts, flooring rubber and rubber adhesives.

Status of Research

Technology transfer to 4 entrepreneurs as follows:

1. M.I.Inter Co., Ltd.
2. One Para Engineering Part., Ltd.
3. Intelligence Rubber Innovation Commercial businesses
4. Ikkyu Enterprise Co., Ltd.