System and method for processing guayule rubber
AssigneeThe Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company
InventorsHoward Colvin, Nicolas Sauty
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Abstract
A guayule rubber processing system and method involves mixing a guayule rubber and at least one solvent blend in an extruder, in order to remove resin found in the guayule miscella and to precipitate the guayule miscella to form a precipitate. The at least one solvent blend has a first solvent configured to precipitate the guayule rubber, and a second solvent configured to swell the resulting precipitate. In particular, a series of the solvent blends may be used at different locations along a length of the extruder and may further include distinct blends of the first solvent and the second solvent, introduced at the different locations, and having different ratios of the first solvent and the second solvent.
Claims7
A method of isolating guayule rubber comprising the steps of:
- mixing a guayule miscella, with at least one solvent blend in an extruder, the solvent blend including a first polar solvent that precipitates the guayule rubber and a second non-polar solvent that swells the resulting precipitate, and
- removing resin and the solvent from the rubber in the extruder;
- wherein the at least one solvent blend includes a first solvent blend having ethanol and cyclopentane with a cyclopentane weight fraction in the ethanol from about 0% to about 50%.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.