In Mumbai, India, birla Carbon is preparing to launch bio based rubber additives, which is expected to improve the performance of tires and their impact on the environment.

In the past four years, the nano cellulose dispersion composite rubber masterbatch was developed in cooperation with GranBio Technologies, a Brazilian clean technology company, and it is said that it can effectively disperse hydrophilic nano cellulose into hydrophobic rubber formula.

How did this project develop? Let's take a look at the project overview first.

Project overview

In the 2021 Sustainable Development Report released earlier this month, Birla said that the partnership has received a grant of $730000 to promote industrial scale factory and road tire testing.

As part of the project, the two companies will expand NDC production at GranBio's biological refinery in Tomaston, Georgia.

In addition, this fund will support partners to prepare a set of engineering plans, market analysis and financial models for the first NDC commercial plant.

Birla and GranBio initially announced the development of filler materials in 2020.

According to Birla, this product improves the rolling resistance of tires and the fuel economy of automobiles by adding bio based nano cellulose into commercial rubber compounds.

At that time, the two sides claimed that the process had overcome the traditional dispersion challenges by combining several "collaborative innovations", including the hydrophobic nano cellulose patented by GranBio.

While increasing the use of renewable raw materials, the technology is said to have the advantages of "easy dispersion, convenient dust free treatment and integration into the formula".

At present, what are the mature rubber additives? We mainly talk about the application principle and field of zinc oxide and white carbon black in rubber.

Why can zinc oxide be used in tyres?

With the rapid development of economy, zinc oxide has been widely used in life. For example, zinc oxide products are used in rubber products, especially in tires. Do you know why zinc oxide can be used in tires?

Zinc oxide is an active agent of natural rubber latex, sometimes also used as a reinforcing agent and colorant. According to different production methods, it can be divided into indirect zinc oxide, direct zinc oxide and active zinc oxide, which are important inorganic active agents in rubber. The addition of rubber compound can not only accelerate the curing rate, but also improve the degree of crosslinking. It can activate thiazole, sulfosamide, guanidine and thiuram accelerators. It is widely used in various tyres, such as automobile tyres, engineering vehicle tyres, transport vehicle tyres, etc.

Zinc oxide is an important additive for tires. In addition to vulcanization, zinc oxide can also greatly improve the thermal conductivity of rubber, help to heat the tires and ensure driving safety. At the same time, zinc oxide additives can also prevent rubber from being eroded by mold or ultraviolet light. Zinc oxide improves the thermal conductivity, abrasion resistance, tear resistance, tensile strength and other indicators of products in the tire industry (black and dark rubber tires, radial tires), saving about 30% of zinc oxide consumption.

Zinc oxide is very important for tires and rubber products. With the development of industry, zinc oxide has become one of the indispensable raw materials, and it is a highly cost-effective curing agent that has been strongly relied on so far. In terms of comprehensive performance and price, there is no complete substitute for zinc oxide (so far), but the technical indicators of zinc oxide, especially the particle size distribution, are crucial, and rice resistance is favored.

Zinc oxide is also used to produce radial tire, bias tire, conveyor belt, rubber hose, rubber belt, rubber shoes, latex gloves and other rubber products, and the product performance fully meets the requirements of the state, the Ministry of Chemical Industry and the American ASTM standards.