bioplasticsMAGAZINE_1201

Automotive
Even the rubber industry has felt the impact of a shortage
of raw material and so is seeking alternatives to the supply
of natural rubber from the Hevea brasiliensis tree.
This tree grows very slowly and needs about 20 years before
it yields its harvest. “Natural rubber is gaining in interest
because of the price of oil”, says Dirk Prüfer, professor and
head of department at the Institute for Plant Biochemistry
and Biotechnology at the Wilhelms University in Münster. The
amount produced today will hardly be enough to cover demand.
As an alternative dandelions are possibly a solution. During
World War II the Americans, Soviets and Germans were looking
at such alternatives. The idea of using dandelions as a natural
source of raw materials was initiated by the Soviets in the
early 1930s. When the Japanese occupied South-East Asia the
Russians and Americans started to look seriously at producing
a natural product from dandelions. On the occupation of the
region by the Americans the Germans were using the technology
Rubber from
dandelions
Could Taraxacum koksaghyz
be a future source of rubber
for the tyre industry?
Taraxacum koksaghyz
(photos: Christian Schulze Gronover)
Dandelion produces in its root, amongst other things, natural
rubber, and can be successfully grown in wide areas of Europe
which in other respects are not particularly fertile. If this were to
be done on a commercial scale then the numerous existing wild
species would have to be grown under agricultural conditions.
In particular it will be a case of increasing the yield.
A German group of six research partners have been working
since spring 2011 on the methodical basis of a cultivation
programme for Caucasian or Russian dandelion (Taraxacum
koksaghyz).
The project is being promoted by the German Federal Ministry
of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection (BMELV) via the
Agency for Renewable Resources (FNR).
The first step in the research programme is the adaptation
of existing biotechnical cultivation methods to dandelion
cultivation. Alongside this the researchers want to obtain
seeds in kilogram quantities. The Continental Tyre Company
(Continental Reifen AG), an industrial partner of the group, is
planning tests of the first natural rubber samples.
In terms of cultivation the researchers, unlike in other
European R&D projects on the same topic, are focussing on
two year old plants. They expect to obtain, among other things,
a higher potential yield in the second year. The disadvantage of
a 2-year cycle is that the cultivation takes longer because only
in the second year do the plants produce seed. For this reason
the scientists want to use methods such as special analysis
techniques to accelerate the process as much as possible.
In February of this year, a new project, supported by the
German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF)
will be launched. The project partners are: Continental Reifen
Deutschland GmbH, Synthomer, Südzucker AG, Fraunhofer
IME & ICB, Aeskulap GmbH, University Stuttgart, Max-Plack-
Institute for Plant Breeding, Julius Kühn Institut, LipoFIT
Analytic GmbH. The goal is the sustainable development of
dandelion as an alternative source to replace natural rubber,
latex and inulin. Stay tuned - bioplastics MAGAZINE will keep you
updated on this project. MT
22 bioplastics MAGAZINE [01/12] Vol. 7