Guayule - An easy-growing shrub for pure rubber latex to make tires of future vehicles

Since ancient times, Olmecs, Maya, Aztecs in the Americas have known to use rubber latex (nomenclature 2 parts: Hevea brasiliensis) to create balls for the deadly game of Pok a Tok or Tlachti. They also know how to use rubber latex as a container, waterproof fabric by soaking in rubber latex.

Later in the 19th century, inventors added sulfur to rubber, creating elastic rubber, and this discovery paved the way for what we use every day as tires. Now, US scientists are trying to replace rubber with Guayule . The goal is to have a sustainable source of natural rubber that is sufficient to meet the increasing demand of rubber tires and at the same time protect water resources, conserve rain forests and even create new products. Rubber products do not cause allergies.

Gene Lester, director of the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) division of the United States Department of Agriculture, said the agency has successfully harvested rubber from the Guayule shrub and that humans could reinvent the wheel - What is considered the symbol of connection of human society.

Rubber trees are still the main source of natural rubber but accompanied with the problem of environmental pollution!

Latex.

Rubber trees (Hevea) are the king in the rubber world, in fact many other trees can still exploit latex such as dandelions but Hevea is still the main source of natural rubber for commercial use. Although originating from Amazon, most of today's rubber plantations are located in tropical countries such as Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia.

Hevea grows well in the area near the equator, but in order to be able to exploit latex, one has to wait a decade for the tree to mature, reach maturity, and require workers to remove pus every day. Rubber plantations also need a lot of labor, although recently people have started using robots.

Demand for rubber is currently very large, according to Lester, the world has more than 1 billion vehicles and 39,000 aircraft in operation, transporting more than 4 billion passengers a year. It is predicted that by 2030, the number of vehicles will double and the number of passengers traveling by air will reach the threshold of 8 billion passengers.

Aircraft tires are usually made of a mixture of natural rubber and petroleum-based synthetic rubber.

Tires for motorbikes and motorcycles are usually made of a mixture of natural rubber and petroleum-based synthetic rubber. Truck tires need a larger ratio of natural rubber while the landing tire is made entirely of natural rubber. Speaking of airplane tires a little, each of the aircraft landing tires can bear up to 38 tons of load and new tires can be used for 500 takeoffs / landings before having to redo the spikes. After 7 such times, it is discarded and an aircraft usually has from 6 tires on narrow body lines to 14 tires on Boeing 777 or 22 tires on Airbus A380, super transport like Antonov An-225 needs 32 tires. When landing, the aircraft tires are subjected to great pressure, not only the pilot's skills but the quality of each tire will be a factor that brings safety for passengers.

Before the explosion of means of transport, the production of rubber is also promoted, but it is worth mentioning that people will have to cut forests to make room for rubber trees if they want to increase production. Rubber plantations cover hundreds of thousands to several million Ha and it is said that rubber trees will need at least 10 - 12 years to be able to harvest latex while the Earth's green lungs cannot wait so long. to be restored. Not to mention that rubber is a poisonous tree, rubber latex is a toxin that pollutes the environment and reduces the life of miners.

Guayule - shrub, drought-resistant, easy to grow, pure pus, hypoallergenic

Guayule shrub.

With the Guayule shrub , this tree is native to northern Mexico and the southwest. Guayule is a local name and the nomenclature is Parthenium argentatum - a plant of the chrysanthemum family and it is closely related to the wild quinine tree commonly grown in home gardens (commonly called wild quinine or American feverfew), nomenclature. Parthenium integrifolium, used to treat malaria.

This is a member of the aster family, and it is closely related to the Security plant.

Guayule grows well in hot, dry areas and attracts countless pollinators. Guayule does not have white flowers as beautiful as quinine but it can tolerate extreme weather and if it becomes a major source of rubber, it will thrive in arid places where it can only grow and harvest foods. alfalfa and cotton.

While the rubber tree requires careful latex cutting , the Guayule just cuts and crushes to get pus . Plants can be cultivated to regrow and harvest several times before being discarded. It also creates valuable byproducts, including fuel.

Guayule just cut branches, crushed to get pus.

Under a US $ 6.9 million grant from the US government, ARS researchers, together with plant scientists and industry experts, looked at the feasibility of growing and harvesting. su from Guayule. They spent five years researching, including Guayule's genetic modification to make it grow with desirable genetic traits such as drought tolerance and high latex yield.

"We think Guayule is a good tree for the world and its people, especially in the desert areas of the Southwest," said Colleen McMaha, head of ARS's domestic natural rubber research lab . America where water is scarce. "

As part of the study, Cooper Tire & Rubber Company in Findlay, Ohio built hundreds of tires from the Guayule latex and successfully tested performance and safety."A conventional wheel has 27 components, each of which is designed for different functions. What we have done is reform," said Chuck Yurkovich, R&D vice president of Cooper Tire & Rubber . every component to make it work ". Chuck added: "If anyone provides this material, we are not afraid to use it as tires." However, he also emphasized that the supply must be affordable according to the scale of agricultural production and processing of agricultural products. Obviously, he wants to grow and exploit rubber from Guayule to be large-scale, invested and become an economy before Guayule products from rubber will become popular.

William Niaura - Bridgestone Americas director of cooperation and innovation, said that Guayule will supplement instead of replacing rubber. He thinks that it will be in the middle or the end of the next decade for the shrub to be planted in sufficient quantities as well as need to develop more to bring the by-products of Guayule to the market, thereby making it effective. higher economic results.

However, Guayule rubber has been included in the premium rubber product portfolio because the latex extracted from it is purer than Hevea rubber. A characteristic of Guayule rubber is that it does not cause irritation, skin allergy and brings a sense of touch superior to Hevea rubber - an essential element for surgical gloves according to the division. share of brain surgeons.