Synthetic elastomers have been produced for over 50 years. Advances in catalyst systems and polymer formulations have been somewhat diminished by the continued use of the same processing technology. In particular, the use of coagulation, steam stripping, mechanical dewatering, and convective drying for the devolatilization of temperature sensitive elastomeric solutions can be replaced with direct devolatilization using kneader technology. A two-step, direct devolatilization process has demonstrated energy savings and advantages in environmental emissions and process/product flexibility when compared to the conventional steam stripping process.
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