RECLAIMING NATURAL RUBBER LATEX FROM DISPOSABLE GLOVE WASTE AND CHARACTERIZING ITS STRUCTURE

The widely used disposable gloves are primarily made from natural polymers that can be reclaimed rather than disposed of in landfills. The latex waste from these disposable gloves was soaked in petroleum ether for 10 days at 50˚C, with occasional stirring. Following the chemical dissolution process, the steeped mixture was refluxed in the presence of the absorbent agent silicon dioxide (SiO2) for 2 hours at the boiling point of the solvent (100-140˚C). The clear filtrate solution was treated with methanol to precipitate the rubber. The reclaimed rubber was analyzed for its structure using FTIR and 1H NMR spectroscopy, where both techniques revealed the main functional groups and the chemical shifts of the resonance protons corresponding to the natural polymer cis-1,4-polyisoprene. The FESEM images and X-ray diffraction patterns of the reclaimed rubber indicate that it is a refined material with an amorphous texture, elastic morphology and numerous surface folds.