RUBBER

ABSTRACT

Rubber Industry is a major industry in Sri Lanka, which gives a large contribution to national
economy. And also, Rubber Industry generates many employment opportunities to rural
population having lower level of education. The technology used by most of raw rubber
manufacturers is very old and this results in low productivity and high environmental damage
which people to do not accept any longer.

Today the rubber industry has faced to lots of problems. Lack of proper equipments, fertilizers,
technology and capital for plantation are some of them. To get a good demand for our rubber we
have to face to the competition in the world market. To win this target we should produce high
quality rubber. To produce high quality rubber we have to find better solutions for the above
mentioned problems.

CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
THE RUBBER TREE

THE WAY OF TAPPING RUBBER TREES IN MY VILLAGE

PROCESSING OF NATURAL RUBBER
PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS
CONCLUTION

INTRODUCTION

My village is Pilikuththuwa which is situated in Gampaha district and it belongs

to Western province. My village is somewhat famous because of its historical value. My village
is filled with lots of natural beauties such as faddy fields, mountains,

rocks and plantations of

rubber trees. If you come to my village you can see large rubber plantations besides the road
towards my village. In my village there are about twenty families who live by tapping rubber
trees. Not in my village but also in all over the Sri Lanka most of people occupy in rubber
plantations and plants. Therefore the rubber industry has taken a special place in my country.
Rubber is one of the most important cash crops, with multipurpose uses. Rubber is
not a hereditary plant in Sri Lanka. The British planters first introduced it in Sri Lanka in the
early twentieth century. Later on, plantations were expanded in whole country by the
government and public enterprises. The British and some other private companies also planted
rubber in the fellow lands of tea estates. At present about 18,000 hectare of land is under rubber
plantation in Sri Lanka, and annual production is about

96,000 tons of natural rubber (NR).

Although production of natural rubber is far less than the demand still the price is very low, even
less than the cost of production, due to competitive low price of natural rubber and synthetic
rubber (SR), a bi-product of crude oil, in the international market.
Considering high productivity, storage, transportation and marketing facilities, the
government encouraged its plantation with financial support and foreign technical assistance.
Public and private sectors established plantations in different hilly regions and commercial
exploitation started successfully within seventh years of plantation. The growth and latex flow is
also very encouraging. Since maintenance and processing cost is relatively very low and a good
price of rubber in the early days it was considered an important crop with high potentiality.

THE RUBBER TREE

The water proofing and elastic properties (rubber balls) of various rubber
producing plants were discovered by Native American cultures, the Aztecs and South American
tribes. Natural rubber comes from the Havea brasiliensis tree, which grows in tropical regions.
Rubber trees typically reach 20-30 meters in height on rubber plantations, and are able to
produce commercial quantities of latex at about 7 years of age, depending on climate and
location. Economical life span of a rubber tree is between 10 to 20 years, but may extend past 25
years in the hands of a skilled tapper an. Havea trees are not tapped any more often than once per
day, with 2 or 3 days being the norm. In countries such as Sri Lanka, tapping usually takes place
in the early hours of the morning, prior to dawn due to the high day time temperature. Also flow
rates are increased due to higher turgor pressures at these times.

THE WAY OF TAPPING RUBBER TREES IN MY VILLAGE

If you come to my village in the morning time you can see people who are
working in the rubber plantations. Nowadays most of them wear protective clothes to protect
against the snakes etc. The tappers use a sharp hook shaped knife to shave a thin layer of fresh
bark from the tree. This exposes the latex vesicles. The cut is typically done at 25-30 to the
horizontal, as this exposes the maximum number of vesicles. The same incision is re-opened the
next time by shaving off a small amount of bark. Virgin bark is exposed first working around in
panels. The same area may be exploited again after about 7 years.
The thickness of the layer is important as too thick a slice will damage the tree and reduce its
productivity and life, while too thin a slice will not produce sufficient latex. Bark is removed in a
localised area for a period of time, and then a new area is tapped allowing the tree to repair itself.
The latex runs down and is collected in a cup. Each tree usually
produces about half a cup of latex per day and is collected later in the day. Latex will flow for
approximately 1 to 3 hours after which time the vesicles become plugged with coagulum.
Then the collected latex put into baskets and bring them to the factory.

PROCESSING OF NATURAL RUBBER

Processing of natural rubber involves the addition of a dilute acid such as formic acid.
The coagulated rubber is then rolled to remove excess water. Then a final rolling is performed
using a textured roller and the resultant rubber sheet is dried. After these processes natural rubber
is ready for exporting.

APPLICATIONS OF NATURAL RUBBER

The natural rubber is used in various applications such as: Glue, Toys, Balloons,
some
medical tubing, Tyers, Gloves, Elastic thread, tubes of automobiles and bi-cycle , footwear,
belts and hoses, latex foam, cables and wires, battery boxes, coats and aprons, air bags, life
jackets and life buoys, adhesives etc. and it is also essential for processing synthetic rubber.
Besides rubber, rubber plants have many other uses e.g.:
1. Timber
2. Rubber seed oil: used as lubricant, and for soap and paint industries and poultry feed.
3. Honey: Mature rubber plantations are the potential source of honey.
4. Affluent or latex processing wastes and residues can be used as fertilizer and making biogas
for power.
5. Land improvement: Every year fallen leaves add 6 to 7 tons per hectare of biomass.
Moreover, rubber roots make a very good net spreading in the top soil up to a depth 1 to 1.5 m
and increase the porosity of the soil.
6. Carbon sinks
7. Ecofriendliness

YEILD AND PRODUCTIVITY

A well-managed plantation in the traditional zone can produce 3 tons rubber per
hectare. Unfortunately, the industry suffered badly in the last decade with the decreasing price
in the international market .Moreover, low productivity due to lack of proper cultural practices

and appropriate processing facilities made worse the situation further more.
For development of rubber, efficient research and protection of market price were not
done. As a result, the industry went down and workers didnt get salaries in time. Plantation
investment, knowledge and skillness, and dependency on the job are still in a serious position.
The rubber industry is facing destruction although there is a great demand for NR in Sri Lanka.
However, the situation has been changed a little bit now. Now rubber is one of the most
profitable commodities in the present market. Therefore, it is the right time to think forward
for further development revising the policy and rectifying the faults through applied research
and appropriate technology to achieve highest productivity and profit.

PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS

Rubber is different from other engineering materials in that it is commonly subject to many
unique processing problems that are not normally encountered with the processing of other nonrubber materials. And also it faces to various kinds of matters on rubber plantation.
Spacing and plant population are two main misguiding factors. Most of the people ignore the
positional effect of the latitude, the inclined sunshine in most of the year. Competition for
sunlight will make them taller without achieving desired girth for tapping. And also the weak
plants should be removed from the plantation. Although it is difficult it must be done, otherwise
most of the trees will remain non-productive. In Sri Lanka rubber planted in large area as a
monocrop. Natural flora and fauna were disturbed due to use of pesticides, organic and inorganic
fertilizers. Due to the usage of fertilizers to reduce the growth of the plants caused to perish the
ground covering plants. And also this resulted heavy erosion of the topsoil. So that it is very
important to establish other shade loving crops or creepers like turmeric, corms, cassava and
piper etc. in rubber plantation for economic and environmental benefit.
Providing enough technical knowledge to tappers also will help to upgrade the quality of the
latex. During the rainy season tapping is greatly affected. Using rainguard sealant which has
newly introduced by the Rubber Research Institution of Sri Lanka can overcome this matter.
Using this knowledge we can get the same amount of latex even during the rainy season.
And also there are lots of factory problems encountered in the rubber production plant.
Any change that is applied to a rubber compound or process is affected, for better or for worse,
to many other compound properties. Therefore, any change that is done to a rubber process
should be thoroughly researched beforehand. These changes should first be tried out on a
laboratory scale, determining how all the processing and cured physical properties are affected,
including all compound specification properties. Plant receiving area, mixing, extrusion,
moldings are some problems occur in rubber plants. Maintaining a consistent quality of mix is

very important to prevent various quality problems downstream. Also, the orders of addition of
ingredients, the mixing scheme, and type of mixer, rotor design, and rotor speed are very
important.

CONCLUSION
A good day is waiting for rubber crop within a very near future. It is well-found fact that natural
rubber is superior to synthetic rubber in all respects. In consideration to environment, health and
safety, bio-degradation and waste disposal factors it is also more acceptable. The tyre industry is
the largest consumer of natural rubber and its demand is increasing with the increase of wheeler
vehicles. The three major rubber-producing countries, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia are
encouraging to replanting rubber areas with oil palm due to the low price of rubber in the world
market. Therefore, it is predicted that rubber could see a decade of higher prices, which is
estimated at least double of the present market price. Therefore upgrade the plantation,
management and products will help to earn more and more foreign exchange to my country.