Effect of Temperature, Time and Diimide/Rubber Ratio on the Hydrogenation of Liquid Natural Rubber by Response Surface Methodology

Mohamad Shahrul Fizree Idris (School of Chemical Sciences and Food Technology, Faculty of Science and Technology, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600 Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia)
Nur Hanis Adila Azhar (School of Chemical Sciences and Food Technology, Faculty of Science and Technology, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600 Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia)
Fazira Firdaus (School of Chemical Sciences and Food Technology, Faculty of Science and Technology, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600 Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia)
Siti Efliza Ashari (Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Jalan UPM, 43400 Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia)
Siti Fairus Mohd Yusoff (School of Chemical Sciences and Food Technology, Faculty of Science and Technology, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600 Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia Polymer Research Center (PORCE), Faculty of Science and Technology, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43)

Indonesian Journal of Chemistry
Vol 19, No 4 (2019)

Hydrogenated liquid natural rubber (HLNR) was synthesized from liquid natural rubber (LNR) by thermolysis of p-toluenesulfonyl hydrazide (TSH). The HLNR structure was characterized by Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopies. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) showed that the HLNR had higher decomposition temperature compared to LNR. A response surface methodology (RSM) based on a central composite rotatable design (CCRD) with five-level-three-factors was used to optimize the main important reaction parameters, such as the TSH:LNR weight ratio (1–3), reaction temperature (110–150 °C), and reaction time (1–8 h). A quadratic model was developed using this multivariate statistical analysis. Optimum conditions for the non-catalytic hydrogenation of LNR using TSH were obtained; an LNR hydrogenation percentage of 83.47% at a TSH:LNR weight ratio of 1.41, a reaction temperature of 118.11 °C, and a reaction time of 3.84 h were predicted. The R2 value of 0.9949 indicates that the model provides data that are well matched with those from the experiment.