Estudo da aplicação de microondas no processo de secagem industrial de borracha sintética.

Abstract

Rubber is nowadays an essential component to the modern world. It was originally obtained only from the natural latex but since the beginning of the twentieth century it began to be synthetically produced. Most of these production processes have been developed and continuously optimized during the science evolution. However, the final rubber production stage consists of the industrial drying process, whose principles and techniques have remained mostly unchanged and are very similar to a large sort of industries. This study aims to evaluate the use of microwave heating to dry the SBR synthetic rubber on a continuous production line. This study is characterized as an exploratory and experimental research, which resulted on the installation and operation of an industrial scale microwave equipment for the drying of synthetic rubber in a petrochemical industry at Rio Grande do Sul. Once the data were analyzed, it was possible to identify the feasibility of the application of this technology on industrial scale. However, despite of this, it became clear that this technology should not be applied stand-alone, due to its limitation on drying very low moisture materials. A more efficient application would be achieved through a combined operation with the microwave technology assisting convective drying.