Preparation and Characterization of Eco-Friendly Spent Coffee/ENR50 Biocomposite in Comparison to Carbon Black

Abstract

This study investigates the impact of spent coffee biochar (Biochar) compared to carbon black (CB) as a partial replacement for carbon black in epoxidized natural rubber (ENR). Particle size and elemental analysis were used to characterize the biochar and CB. Cure characteristics, tensile, thermal, and morphological properties on the effect of biochar and CB as filler were studied. It was found that incorporating 10 phr of spent coffee biochar could improve the composites’ tensile properties and thermal performance compared to carbon black. However, the addition of biochar significantly affects the maximum torque compared to CB and delays the vulcanization time. SEM study shows that biochar has a strong effect on the morphology of composite films. The FTIR graph reveals no substantial difference between compounds with biochar and CB. According to the thermal calorimetric study, the thermal stability of ENR-Biochar is higher than that of ENR-CB. Additionally, these findings suggest that the utilization of spent coffee as a sustainable biochar could be further explored, but little has been done in epoxidized natural rubber (ENR).