Patented latex stabilization · WO 2023/144631 A1
AFLatex replaces ammonia preservation with a proprietary stabilizer chemistry for both 35% field latex and 60% concentrate. Your plantation, centrifuges, molds and cure profiles stay as they are — what changes is the chemistry going in, and how much control you have over coagulation downstream.
Licensed worldwide by Sprategy LLC · New York
Field latex is stabilized at the collection point with a 2% BETA premix — linear dodecylbenzene sulfonic acid (DBSA), CAS 85536-14-7.
The starting point
Fresh latex is a colloid that bacteria start breaking down within hours of leaving the tree, which drives premature coagulation. Ammonia holds it together — and adds odor, protective equipment, monitoring, and an ammonia-bearing effluent stream to every downstream stage.
How BETA stabilization works
The formulation is simple by design: 98% natural rubber field latex to 2% BETA chemical premix, by volume. The change to your operation is logistical — collection routes converge on a mixing station instead of relying on ammonia diffusing through the day.
Unchanged. Same trees, same rows, same 400 g of 35% field latex per tree.
Cut pass and collection pass inside 3.5 hours, routed to a central mixing station. Plan around 900 trees per cutter rather than 1,100.
98% latex to 2% BETA premix, mixed manually with a perforated plunger. 20 L per 1,000 L of latex.
Acidic field latex at pH ~4.5, 35% DRC. No maturation period is needed before centrifuging or creaming.
Ammonia- and nitrosamine-free concentrate, packed in drum, IBC or flexitank.
The dispersion is supplied acidic and can be raised toward pH 9 and above for use with anionic additives. Licensed producers publish their own TDS and SDS from their validated production.
Field DRC values, tree density and row spacing, centrifuge operation and target 60% DRC, packaging formats, and the vulcanization package you already run.
A centralized collection and mixing point, a tapping round sized to the four-hour window, and operator training on premix handling. DBSA is an industrial chemical and is handled with standard chemical procedures.
Premix supply, the process changes stage by stage, and a technical contact who has run this transition before. Start with a technical call →
The signature difference
Sodium silicofluoride works by slow thermal decomposition, so the processing window moves with the room. Calcium hydroxide dissociates on contact: Ca²⁺ compresses the electrical double layer around the latex particles and aggregation begins. Move the dose, move the onset.
Calibration point. Experimentally validated on Beta latex at 35 °C with 4.01 pph sulfur and 5.81 pph silica. Viscosity plateau around 1,050 cP.
Choose a dose whose onset exceeds your total time from coagulant addition to completed mould fill by a comfortable margin — a minimum of 20–30%. For Beta latex at 35 °C, 2.5–3.0 pph is the recommended starting range for conventional batch casting.
Whipping, transfer and mould fill all have to happen inside the filled band.
| Ca(OH)₂ (pph) | Onset (s) | Zone |
|---|
2.5 pph → 90 s and 3.5 pph → 35 s are experimentally measured on Beta latex at 35 °C. All other values are model predictions from t = 556 / [Ca(OH)₂]2.37, valid 1.0–7.0 pph, and should be validated before extrapolating to other temperatures, latex types or base polymers.
Downstream evidence
Casting, pH adjustment and foam are where the transition is decided. Here is what the laboratory work shows, with measured points separated from model predictions throughout.
Two viscosity curves at 35 °C, both sigmoidal, both settling near the same ultimate viscosity. The dose decides when the steep rise begins, not how complete the gel becomes.
Adding 20% w/w potassium hydroxide takes the acid-stabilized system from about pH 3.9 to the alkalinity a foam compound needs, on a smooth curve with no abrupt plateau.
On a Dunlop-type foam line the transition is three ingredient substitutions, not a process redesign. Equipment, moulds, cure profiles and downstream handling stay as they are.
Becoming a licensed producer
Licensing gives you the right to produce under the AFLatex patent, with the technical transfer that goes with it. The sequence below is the standard path, and each stage has a named owner on our side.
We map your current line, volumes and grades.
Our technical team confirms fit and flags what has to change.
Licensing agreement signed, then virtual training for your team.
Stabilizer delivered; first tests run on your own latex.
Pilot batch and joint review of results, with a site visit if needed.
You publish product documentation and begin commercial output.
Formulation, process changes stage by stage, and a technical Q&A session with the people who will run the line.
BETA premix supply for lab testing, the pilot batch, and ongoing production.
A Sprategy dashboard for production and sales reporting, activated when commercial production begins.
The fastest first conversation is a technical one: your grades, your volumes, and the process you want to protect. We will tell you plainly whether AFLatex fits.
Who you will be talking to