A PROCESS AND APPARATUS FOR COAGULATING AND DRYING LATEX

摘要

A PROCESS FOR THE CONTINUOUS COAGULATION AND DRYING OF RUBBER LATEX INCLUDES FEEDING THE LATEX ONTO AN ENDLESS CONVEYOR BELT (8) WHICH FEEDS THE LATEX TEMPERATURE THROUGH A COAGULATOR (10). A COMBINATION OF MICROWAVE ENERGY AND HOT AIR RAISES THE TEMPERATURE OF THE LATEX CAUSING IT TO COAGULATE IN A COAGULATION OF TIME OF LESS THAN FIVE MINUTES. THE COAGULATED RUBBER FROM THE COAGULATOR (10) IS FED ONTO A CONVEYOR BELT (14) OF A STRETCH UNIT (12) WHICH STRETCHES THE RUBBER BY INCREASING ITS SPEED OF TRAVEL. THE STRETCHED RUBBER IS THEN CONVEYED ONTO THE UPPER BELT (18) OF A DRYING UNIT (16). THE DRYING RUBBER IS PASSED FROM THE UPPER BELT (18) ONTO AN INTERMEDIATE BELT (20) AND THEN ON TO A LOWER BELT (22) BEFORE LEAVING THE DRYING UNIT (16). A COMBINATION OF MICROWAVE ENERGY AND HOT AIR IN THE DRYING UNIT (16) IS USED TO DRY THE RUBBER TO A MOISTURE CONTENT OF LESS THAN 1.5%.(FIG 1)