Rubber Security

Though we usually think of diversifying away from petroleum via the fuels for our cars — what about the petroleum in the tires? 

Rubber security, as it turns out, offers some of the same chills and thrills as energy security. The Digest investigates.

“I’ll take ‘Fungi that wiped out an industry’ for $500, Alex.”

“Leaf blight has wiped out every commercial-scale plantation of this tree in its native Brazil, and it now is planted primarily in Southeast Asia, where seed was originally smuggled and grown in order to break the perceived threat of a Brazilian monopoly.”

“What is the rubber tree?”

Yes, one of the first questions you might ask yourself is — why exactly isn’t the single major global source of natural rubber, the Brazilian rubber tree (hevea brasiliensis), grown commercially in Brazil? Yep, a pesky fungus took it out.

Fast-forward to today. You’re now lasered in on one reason that tire companies feel exposed to economic chaos, should just one new fungi appear that takes on rubber trees in Southeast Asia. No surprise, they’ve been working hard on alternatives.

Not that they’ve been especially in love with the roller coaster of commodity prices, in any case,

For a long time, companies were content to develop synthetic rubber, made from petroleum, as an alternative source of supply. But, they’ve been through enough of the petroleum cost shocks, sustainability concerns, and the build-up of negative pressure around greenhouse gas emissions to grasp that salvation lies in diversification.

Natural rubber prices have been volatile too — rising to $2.80/pound in 2011 before falling to $0.77/pound last week.

Diversifying away from petroleum, hevea

The two candidates for diversifying away from petroleum-based and hevea-based rubbers are guayule and Russian dandelion. They’ve been studied, in fits and starts that generlly conincide with supply shocks, for decades. There were big US and Soviet effort in the 1940s, and tire companies launched a new wave of research in the 1970s. At the time, yields were low, crop management practices were not well understood, harvesting and extraction was in its infancy.

With the advent of the New Agriculture, the rise of sustainability concerns, and the rollercoaster of oil prices, interest in both plants has flourished.

In addition to “rubber security”, there’s the economic opportunity. The gloabl natural rubber market is 9.7 million tons and $20 billion, according to PENRA, the Ohio State-based center of excellence for research on natural rubber alternatives. In North America alone the market is 1.35 million tons of which 80% is used in tires. PENRA observes that “rucking, construction and aviation tires require a high percentage of natural rubber to meet performance characteristics making natural rubber critical to the nation’s trucking and construction industries as well as the U.S. strategic defenses. Aircraft tires require nearly 100% natural rubber to meet heat tolerance and required adhesion specifications.”

PENRA favors the use of Russian dendelion, also known as TKS from its Russian initials, noting that “Based on several studies, TKS was demonstrated to be a viable source of domestically-produced natural rubber, compatible with associated rubber manufacturing process, comparable to Hevea, and superior to Guayule.

The PENRA objectives

The Program of Excellence in Natural Rubber Alternatives (PENRA) has five development tracks for Russian dandelion, and has attracted a wide assortment of commercial and academic partners. The tracks are:

Track 1: Germplasm Improvement – seed acquisition, seed biology, selection, propagation, breeding and biotechnology which result in enhanced adaptability and rubber content.

Track 2: Production System Optimization – physiology, cultural inputs, integrated pest management and crop management practices which optimize natural rubber and seed production in improved TKS germplasm selections.

Track 3: BioProcessing Optimization – harvesting and processing strategies which optimize the extraction of rubber and associated by-products from TKS roots. Bench-top and pilot scale systems leading to commercial levels of TKS rubber processing.

Track 4: Byproduct Processing and Utilization – natural rubber extraction from TKS. Processes to use the abundant carbohydrate by-products of TKS remaining after rubber extraction for potential ethanol generation. In addition, high-grade inulin derived from carbohydrate extraction may be utilized for other food products.

Track 5: Commercial Validation and Utilization – TKS-derived natural rubber products for manufacturing, transportation, defense applications, and other purposes.

Elsewhere in the development of TKS

Fraunhofer Institute, Continental Tire

Working jointly with industry and science, the Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology IME established a partnership with Continental Tire in October 2013, to develop the production process over the next five years so that Continental can manufacture tires made from dandelion rubber.  The research team is building the “first ever pilot system to extract vast quantities of dandelion rubber for making tires: an important milestone on the path to rubber procurement in Europe.”

“We are investing in this highly promising materials development and production project because we are certain that in this way we can further improve our tire production over the long term,” said Nikolai Setzer at the time, the Continental managing director who is responsible for the tires division. “It’s because the rubber extraction from the dandelion root is markedly less affected by weather than the rubber obtained from the rubber tree. Based on its agricultural modesty, it holds entirely new potential – especially for cropland that is lying fallow today. Since we can grow it in much closer proximity to our production sites, we can further reduce both the environmental impact as well as our logistics costs by a substantial margin. This development project impressively demonstrates that, with regard to material development, we have not reached the end of our potential.”’

Nova-BioRubber Green Technologies 

Back in 2013, Nova-BioRubber made some waves with its progress in development of green extraction technologies for natural rubber, latex and inulin; and providing extraction equipment. NovaBioRubber was founded by Dr. Anvar Buranov in May of 2009 after obtaining  US patent  for an innovative green rubber recovery process. Starting from a home office in Penticton, BC, the prototype rubber extractor was designed and built at an engineering shop in Kelowna, BC. Nova-BioRubber’s business proposition has two arms: one will provide proprietary extraction equipment, and the other will extract, purify and sell the natural rubber, latex and inulin.

Buranov told Ribber News last year that PENRA researchers, working with Nova seeds, “achieved 16 percent rubber content in nine months, whereas with guayule, you have 4 percent rubber content in three years,” he said.

Wageningen

In February 2014, Wageningen UR launched the EU project DRIVE4EU, a demonstration project aimed at the development of the production chain of natural rubber and inulin from Russian dandelions. The aim of the project is to set up a new European chain for the production and processing of natural rubber. In an earlier research project, EU-PEARLS yielded a simple efficient extraction method for dandelion rubber, as well as knowledge enabling significant and rapid advances in dandelion breeding.

KeyGene, Kultevat

Global demand for natural rubber is expected to outstrip supply by 20% by 2020. But KeyGene believes that the dandelion can be developed into an important natural source of the commodity, worth more than $100 billion a year.

The dandelion’s roots are smaller than ideal for commercial rubber production. So KeyGene is putting the plant through a process of plant phenotyping in order to develop a variety of dandelion with a fatter root and higher yield, that would be better suited for industrial processing.

“We are making … crosses between the Russian dandelion and the common dandelion using those modern DNA profiling technologies,” says KeyGene CEO Arjen Van Tunen. “We’re making and developing a better rubber dandelion, which produces more rubber because of an increased size.”

Last March, KeyGene and US biotech company Kultevat announced that they have developed the first Russian dandelion lines that can be tested and used for latex production. The collaboration initiated in April 2013 between Kultevat and KeyGene is boosted by a recent capital investment which enable Kultevat to expand their activities  with respect to dandelion production for natural rubber in their new R&D facility in St. Louis, Mo. USA.

Bridgestone Americas

Bridgestone Americas is one of several collaborators taking part in the Russian Dandelion project being led by PENRA. The company’s specific role in the project is to scrutinize the performance of the rubber produced by using natural rubber extracted from Russian Dandelion.

“We know that there are more than 1,200 types of plants from which natural rubber could in theory be harvested, but finding one that could practically produce the quality and amount of rubber needed to meet the demands of today’s tire market is a challenge,” said Dr. Hiroshi Mouri, President,

Bridgestone Americas Center for Research and Technology. “Bridgestone continues to dedicate substantial resources to finding sustainable alternatives for the natural rubber needed to manufacture tires and other high-quality rubber products, and we’re excited about this potentially game-changing discovery with the Russian Dandelion.”

Bridgestone subsidiaries will conduct additional testing on Russian Dandelion-harvested natural rubber at their technical labs in Akron and Tokyo this summer, with larger scale testing to follow in 2014.

Elsewhere in the development of guayule

Cooper Tire, ARS, Arizona State, PanAridus

In the world of guayule, one of the most significant efforts has been based in a $6.9 million 2012 USDA grant to a consortoium led by Cooper Tire. The four-year grant aimed to focus on research efforts aimed at developing enhanced manufacturing processes, testing and utilizing of guayule natural rubber as a strategic source of raw material in tires, and evaluating the remaining biomass of the guayule plant as a source of bio-fuel for the transportation industry.

At the time, Yulex was announced as the manufacturer of the material, but in December 2013 PanAridus replaced “Yulex Corporation on the grant team, assuming Yulex’s responsibilities as the primary manufacturer of the material. PanAridus will take the lead in developing commercial processes to produce guayule natural rubber for the tire industry.” Among other partners, ARS is leading the genomic and agronomic development of guayule, while ASU is evaluating the sustainability impact these biomaterial and bioenergy industries have on the American Southwest, where guayule is grown.

Last October, Cooper Tire said it had completed tire builds using rubber derived from guayule plants and new guayule related materials. The tires are being evaluated by Cooper’s technical team using rigorous wheel, road and track tests, which are ongoing, but to date suggest tire performance that is at least equal to tires made of components derived from the Hevea rubber plant. Cooper said that its “ progress in tire technology under the grant has been aided by PanAridus’ success in manufacturing rubber using improved strains of guayule and deploying superior rubber extraction technology. Cooper, PanAridus and USDAARS have worked closely to identify key variables impacting rubber quality and controlling these factors during the rubber manufacturing process, resulting in compounds with properties that behave more like Hevea natural rubber than guayule isolated from other processes.”

Bridgestone

Last September, Bridgestone Americas announced the opening of its 10-acre Biorubber Process Research Center in Mesa, Arizona focused on guayule. Bridgestone will supply the Biorubber Process Research Center with biomass for rubber production from guayule grown on its 281-acre Agro Operations Research Farm in nearby Eloy, Ariz. The Agro Operations site includes two greenhouses, an equipment storage building and a main research and laboratory building. Guayule rubber produced at the Biorubber Process Research Center will be sent to Bridgestone’s technical centers in both Akron, Ohio and Tokyo, Japan. At those facilities, engineers will work to optimize rubber performance within Bridgestone’s product line and explore the full potential for next-generation tires.

Yulex

Over at Yulex, the company has had its signature success to date in its high-visibility partnership with Patagonia to replace neoprene, a synthetic, petroleum-derived material with a highly toxic manufacturing process. Using guayule, a small shrub native to the Southwest, the companies were able to co-develop a natural rubber alternative that performed as well – or better – than traditional neoprene. Grown without pesticides, the guayule plants are harvested and mulched, and a high-quality natural rubber is extracted through a water-based separation process.

In the Summer of 2013, the product was released to the entire wetsuit industry, and in February 2014, the Surf Industry Manufacturers Association presented Patagonia with the Environmental Product of the Year award for their Men’s Yulex R2 Front-Zip Full Suit. WHich also helped propel guayule into “New Feedstock of the Year” in the 2013-14 Digest Awards, and ushered Yulex into the 30 Hotetst Companies in Biobased materials and the 40 Hottest Small Comanies in the Advamnced Bioeconomy, which are based on reader and industry selector voting.

Also in 2013, Yules and Versalis signed a partnership  to manufacture guayule-based biorubber materials and will launch an industrial production complex in Southern Europe. The partners said they will “will cover the entire manufacturing chain from crop science to biorubber extraction to the construction of a biomass power station. Versalis will manufacture materials for various applications: after an initial focus on consumer and medical specialty markets, the target is to optimize the process to reach the tire industry.”

In January 2014 Yulex noted, “As part of Yulex’s global licensing program, which has started with ENI’s Versalis in Europe, licensees will have access to commercial quantities of guayule seeds developed by the Yulex Center to establish crops in new regions. Yulex has the capability to rapidly expand, harvest and to clean commercial volumes of Certified Guayule Seed.”

The Bottom Line

With natural rubber prices dropping, there’s a natural expectation that interest from strategic partenrs in building commercial-scale operations for TKS or guayule-based rubber may fade. However, that will depend not only on commodity prices but three other factors. One, yield improvement; two, harvesting costs; three, the development of additional high-value products to take advantage of the availability of inulin from the plants once the latex is extracted.

Wikipedia notes that inulin is “increasingly used in processed foods” and can “be used to replace sugar, fat, and flour” but contains “This is advantageous because inulin contains 25-35% of the food energy of carbohydrates (starch, sugar), increases calcium absorption” while “promoting the growth of beneficial intestinal bacteria.”