Low cost processing aid from oil refinery waste for compounding of styrene/butadiene rubber

Data have been obtained in an attempt to use the oily sludge that: is a dum ped waste of petroleum refineries. The sludge, after purification, was used as a processing aid in the sulphur vulcanisation of styrene/butadiene rubb er, in which carbon black is used as filler. Compounds containing; aromatic oil were used as the control. Different mixes, containing varying concentr ations of aromatic oil/refinery sludge were prepared. The mixes were evalua ted for different cure characteristics and the vulcanisates were tested for various physical properties and chemical crosslink density. Aging resistan ce of the vulcanisates was also evaluated. Processability studies were carr ied out for the carbon black systems under review. It was found that the op timum cure time is reduced significantly when aromatic oil is replaced comp letely with refinery sludge. In the evaluation of tensile properties, vulca nisates containing 60% sludge gave the maximum value, while other vulcanisa tes containing refinery sludge gave values comparable with those containing conventional process aids. It is worthy of note that aromatic oil is becom ing prohibitively costly while sludge is a dumped waste of the refinery. PR C/1526 (C) 1999 IoM Communications Ltd.