Penetapan Kadar Abu (Ash Content) pada Karet Remah Mutu Sir 20 di PT. Rubber Hock Lie Sunggal Sumatera Utara

Abstract

Natural rubber (Hevea brasiliensis) is one of the leading agricultural products because it supports the country's economy a lot. As a plant that is much needed for industrial materials, rubber is widely cultivated as a plantation crop in Indonesia. Testing the ash content of SIR 20 quality crumb rubber at PT. Rubber Hock Lie Sunggal, North Sumatra, aims to determine the presence of ash contained in raw rubber which consists of oxides, carbon, phosphate, and potassium, magnesium, sodium, and several other elements in different amounts according to SIR quality standards that have been set. The ash content is affected by foreign material contamination factors and the type of freezer used. High ash content occurs when foreign materials are added to the latex, such as mud, fine sand, to manipulate the determination of dry rubber content, or when the garden coagulum has been contaminated with silt, latex deposits, clay, sand, and so on. Ash content is one of the parameters used to determine the quality of rubber. Determination of ash content was carried out by the dry ash method and the gravimetric method. Based on the analysis that has been carried out on the SIR 20 crumb rubber sample, the ash content ranges from 0.24% - 0.30%. Based on the results obtained, the SIR 20 crumb rubber which had been tested for ash content met the quality requirements of SIR 20 according to SNI 06-1903-2017, namely ≤ 1.00%.