Solvent Elimination by the Rubber Industry

The use of waterborne bonding systems has been driven forward by the worldwide concern about environmental pollution emanating from the use of solvents by industry in general. 

A number of rubber manufacturing processes involve the use of solvents, which in the past were often vented to atmospheres after fulfilling their purpose in the manufacturing process. Processes involving solvents include  

The latter two processes are of immediate concern to the reader in the context of this book. 

Worldwide limits for solvents in the atmosphere were discussed and set (and subsequently updated) at a conference in Montreal in 1988. The protocol issued after the conference, the Montreal Protocol, laid down a timetable for solvent use reduction for chlorofluorocarbon solvents and specifically for carbon tetrachloride and methyl chloroform. The use of the former to be eliminated by 1997, and the latter to be reduced by 70% by the year 2000, and then to be totally banned by 2005. 

As expected, these limits have not been met in the UK. The pertinent act for the UK is the Environmental Protection Act 2990 Pt 1, with specific guidance notes for the Rubber Industry, Process Guidance Notes 6/28 (92) which applies to companies using over 5 tonnes of solvent per year. All participants at the Montreal Conference drew up their own legislation, which can be determined by the reader from their own country s controlling bodies for environmental control. 

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