Synthesis of Environmentally Friendly Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene Resin with Low VOC

Most acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) resin is plagued by an unpleasant odor attributed to the high residual volatile organic compound (VOC) content. This paper primarily aimed to solve the odor issue of ABS resin by effectively reducing the VOC content. To that end, a synthesis of ABS resins was optimized through a supercritical extraction process while evaluating multiple novel chain transfer agents (linear dimer of α-methyl-styrene, methyl 3-mercaptopropionate, and dodecyl mercaptan). ABS resin obtained through a α-methyl-styrene chain transfer agent demonstrated the lowest odor. Moreover, it had the least amount of VOC content which was three times lower than when dodecyl mercaptan was employed. To improve the supercritical extraction process, an orthogonal test was designed to optimize four main process parameters: extrusion temperature, residence time, vacuum degree and extractant dosage. The most optimal conditions were found to be 250 °C extrusion temperature, one minute residence time, vacuum degree of minus 99 KPa, and 1.5% CO₂ extractant dosage.