Browsing by Author "Suchiva K."

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    Environmental impact of passenger car tire supply chain in Thailand using the life cycle assessment method
    (2023-05-01) Buadit T.; Ussawarujikulchai A.; Suchiva K.; Papong S.; Ma H.w.; Rattanapan C.; Mahidol University
    Although the tire industry contributes to Thailand's economy, every phase throughout its supply chain has the potential to harm the environment. A comprehensive understanding of all potential environmental impacts and a comparison study are effective approaches to the mitigation of such harm. This research applied a life cycle assessment (LCA) to analyze the detrimental effects of the Thai automotive tire supply chain, starting from rubber plantations, tire production and utilization stage until end-of-life tire handling. Two types of waste tire management technologies, namely, pyrolysis and reclaimed rubber, were compared to identify the optimal disposal option. The results found that both management technologies have negative values for almost every category as a result of the avoided impact from valuable products. The only exception is water consumption in pyrolysis. Global warming, terrestrial ecotoxicity, and fossil resource scarcity are significant benefits if end-of-life tires are recycled. When considered throughout the supply chain, reclaimed rubber yielded a superior negative value for the total score of terrestrial ecotoxicity and water usage. This demonstrates the advantage of reclaiming worn-out tires to replace traditional synthetic rubber, as opposed to pyrolysis, where the cumulative value remains positive. The uncompensated impact came from the higher impact of tire manufacturing and the use of tires. The use of gasoline and greenhouse emissions produced the most effects during the usage phase, while electricity consumption was the major contributor to tire manufacturing and waste tire disposal. As a result, waste tire management technology to recover valuable materials and power system efficiency improvement were suggested, along with research and development of a new tire model for diminishing gasoline consumption and air pollution. These strategies could mitigate the environmental impact and eventually enhance the sustainability of the tire supply chain.
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    Grafting of polyester fabrics with methacrylic acid
    (2024-01-01) Kusuktham B.; Suchiva K.; Udon S.; Kusuktham B.; Mahidol University
    Modification of polyester (poly(ethylene terephthalate)) fabric by grafting with poly(methacrylic acid) was studied. The objective was to improve the hydrophilicity of polyester and, hence, its water uptake. The modified polyester fabrics were characterized by gravimetric method, Fourier transform infrared, dynamic mechanical analysis, and scanning electron microscopy. It was found that grafting of methacrylic acid onto polyester fabrics could be effected by radical reaction using benzoyl peroxide as radical initiator. Swelling of polyester fabric with benzyl alcohol was also found to be necessary for grafting to occur. The parameters which affected the modification reaction were initiator concentration, monomer to fabric ratio, reaction temperature, and reaction time. In addition, it was shown that the percentage uptake of moisture of the modified fabric (1–4.6%) increased with increase in the extent of grafting (5–32%). The modified fabric tended to be stiffer than the unmodified fabric, but they could be softened by controlled treatment with aqueous solution of sodium hydroxide. The stability of the modified polyester fabric, however, was found to decrease with increase in the extent of modification (high monomer to fabric ratio) and increasing concentration of sodium hydroxide solution. Thus, careful control of sodium hydroxide treatment process was necessary to prevent deterioration of the modified polyester fabric.
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    Green productivity and value chain analysis to enhance sustainability throughout the passenger car tire supply chain in Thailand
    (2023-09-01) Buadit T.; Ussawarujikulchai A.; Suchiva K.; Papong S.; Rattanapan C.; Mahidol University
    Although the tire industry is important for the economy of the country, focusing only on productivity will not lead to sustainable production and competitiveness in today's global market. This research aimed to enhance economic and environmental performance throughout Thailand's tire supply chain using green productivity (GP) and value chain analysis. The current performance of the tire supply chain was presented using GP level with value chain analysis for identifying the causes of extravagant resources, energy, or waste. The clean technology (CT) concept was used to develop options to improve GP and obtaining a sustainable tire supply chain. The results showed that the highest GP value of primary and intermediate rubber products was fresh latex and smoke sheet rubber. Cup lump and STR20 block rubber, in contrast, offered the lowest GP. Overuse of chemical fertilizer in the cup lump production, water consumption in the STR20 production and steam consumption in the tire manufacturing process were key issues selected for developing CT options from value chain analysis. The chosen options are to fertilize following the Rubber Research Institute recommendations, recycle used or treated water in the rubber industry and lower mold open time among tire manufacturers to reduce steam and coal consumption. These techniques were predicted to raise the GP value from 0.1495 to 0.1626 in cup lump production, 0.0320–0.0326 in the STR20 plant and 0.0098–0.0114 in a tire factory. It indicated a more sustainable business operation that could reduce environmental impacts and increase competitiveness simultaneously.
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    Improvement of mechanical and dynamic properties of high silica filled epoxide functionalized natural rubber
    (2023-05-01) Nuinu P.; Sirisinha C.; Suchiva K.; Daniel P.; Phinyocheep P.; Mahidol University
    In this research, 3 different low degrees (4, 8, and 14 mol%) of epoxide functionalized natural rubber were prepared via chemical modification of natural rubber, which was then vulcanized. Each of them was mixed with silica (50 parts per hundred of rubber) without a silane coupling agent and investigated their properties. It was found that the tensile and tear properties, as well as abrasion resistance of the silica filled epoxide functionalized natural rubber vulcanizates were higher than the silica filled natural rubber vulcanizate. These properties improvements could be attributed to the interaction of the silanol groups of the silica with the epoxide groups of the modified rubber chains via chemical and physical interactions. This could be supported by the occurrence of tear parts from the morphology investigation of the tensile fractured surface of the modified rubber vulcanizates using a scanning electron microscope. The presence of silicon elements in the rubber matrix was evidenced by scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-Ray spectrometer. Moreover, the silica filled epoxide functionalized natural rubber having 14 mol% epoxide content without a silane coupling agent exhibited low abrasion loss, low heat build-up and enhancement in loss tangent at 0 °C, hence improved wet skid resistance, compared to the silica filled natural rubber without a silane coupling agent. This work demonstrated that the prepared low degree of epoxide functionalized natural rubber could be potentially applied to the tire tread rubber application without the use of a silane coupling agent.