CHLOROPRENE RUBBER: APPLICATION AND PRODUCTION

Abstract

Polychloroprene is widely used as a special-purpose rubber in such industries as automotive, construction, textile industry. Chloroprene rubber takes a significant share in the market of elastomers due to its properties. In recent years, a gradual increase in demand for chloroprene rubbers is expected. This trend is most clearly seen in regions with a developed automotive industry. World leaders in the production of chloroprene rubbers and latex demonstrate their interest in increasing production capacity. In Russia, chloroprene rubber is not produced, the demand is completely met by import. In this paper, the main industrial methods for the production of chloroprene monomer, based on various feedstocks: acetylene and butadiene-1,3, exist in the world practice. Advantages and disadvantages of each of the above methods for producing chloroprene monomer are given. Technical solutions for the improvement of the chloroprene-monomer preparation technology for the steps of chlorination of butadiene-1,3 and dehydrochlorination of 3,4-dichlorobutene-1 in a column apparatus are proposed. An improved process for the preparation of chloroprene rubber from butadiene-1,3 is described. The development of a modern technology for the production of chloroprene rubber based on domestic raw materials will make it possible to obtain a high-quality target product, which will lead to the exclusion of its imports.