Sri Lankan inventor’s efforts to reduce waste in the latex rubber processing
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The 1,500 Litre Eco Designed Spherical tanks installed at the Lalan Rubber Factory
A lot of wastage occurs in the processing of rubber latex when the milk is collected and processed in rectangular square steel tanks due to many corners in the tanks. The tanks then have to be cleaned up for the next round of processing. For some time, Sunil Somasiri Gomes of Nungamugoda, Kelaniya has been working as a visiting consultant for the National Cleaner Production Centre and part of his job has been to visit a large number of latex factories. Seeing a lot of wastage, Mr. Gomes has been researching on a differently designed tank without corners.
His research reached fruition when he designed a spherical tank sans corners. This new invention will soon not only hit the local market but also the international market as he has taken steps to obtain appropriate patent rights to his invention with the help of the Sri Lanka Inventions Commission and the National Science Foundation (NSF). The ultimate product not only prevents wastage of rubber latex but also minimises labour in cleaning the tank. His invention is called ‘Eco-designed Spherical Tank’(EST)
Mr. Gomes after completing his basic studies at Isipathana MV Colombo, subsequently obtained a Diploma in Mechanical Engineering from the Moratuwa University and another Diploma in Rubber Technology from the same university. A winner of several accolades, he has worked as an engineer at senior managerial level at several major establishments.
His product has been extensively tested at the rubber factory of Lalan Rubbers (Pvt) Ltd, Bulathsinhala, Warakapola. The large ESTs installed at this factory were shown to the Business Times (BT) during a visit recently in the company of NSF Scientific Officers.Lalan Rubber owns several rubber estates where a large quantity of latex is collected, and the Warakapola unit is one of their factories which collects, stores and processes rubber latex.
J.M.S.S. Kumara, Factory Manager, Lalan Rubber took the BT round the factory and showed the large old steel rectangular tanks and 22,000 litre EST recently installed that is used parallel to the other old tanks. Mr. Gomes at the Warakapola factory office told BT that they have selected the cylindrical tank as they are advantageous in many ways since in addition to the cutting down of wastage these spherical tanks are easy to maintain.
The 22,000 litre Eco Designed Spherical Tank installed at the Lalan Rubber Factory, Warakapola.
He said that if the entire rubber industry uses these spherical tanks a hypothetical computation of saving would be around Rs. 10 million with around 50 per cent saving on labour and chemicals. Larger spherical tanks are made out of mild steel of 22,000 litre capacity but they have now experimented on a smaller version of 1,500 litre capacity that are portable to use for the transport and storage of latex and are made out of High Density Polyethylene (HDP) which is also economical.
Mr.Gomes said that they reached agreement with Richard Peiris Polymers, Horana to manufacture HDP ESTs. Sunil LIyanage, Director, RPC Polymers told the BT that the HDP ESTs would be much more efficient in the transport and storage of latex. He said that Richard Peiris’ is always prepared to help such enduring innovative entrepreneurs and said that they are running a sample manufacture exercise.
The project is sponsored by the NSF. One of the NSF Scientific Officers present at the Warakapola factory told the BT that they help scientifically based innovations that have potential for commercialisation – an ideal matching ground for the inventors and investors. But the inventor has to first make an application and once the application is processed and approved, only then is the funding made available.
Sunil Gomes (left) inventor of the Eco Designed Spherical Tank and J.M.S.S.Kumara, Factory Manager, Lalan Rubber (pvt) Ltd explaining the Spherical tank.
He said that they have borne 70 per cent (Rs 2.5 million) of the cost of this project and are constantly monitoring these projects until the products are firmly established in the market. Mr. Gomes said that as the steel rectangular tanks are already used by the industry, replacing to new spherical tanks to establish in the market would take time and also there is a considerable investment too is involved. But, he said he is confident that this would be a valuable product for the local and international market.
The NSF is not only involved in meeting the inventors with the investors, but also financially helping to complete the research. Their email address is td@nsf.ac.lk and telephone number is 011 2676766.