According to PanAridus CEO Mike Fraley, commercialized guayule rubber for tires is moving at warp speed. Recently, the company announced its ninth USDA Plant Variety Patent and its first tire quality, bale-sized shipment of the biorubber.
The natural rubber polymer is extracted from guayule shrubs, native to the Southwestern U.S. and northern Mexico. Fraley noted that tire companies are especially interested in the natural rubber polymer because the U.S. and other non-tropical nations import 100% of their natural rubber supply.
“By continuing to diversify our plant varieties, we’re overcome yet another obstacle in the 100-year quest to find a sustainable and domestically produced source of natural rubber. We’ve made guayule more adaptable to different soils and conditions which should give the tire industry more confidence than ever that we’ve reached the age in which a domestically produced source of natural rubber can be sustainably grown over predictable periods of time,” said Fraley.
PanAridus produced its first shipment of guayule rubber for Cooper Tire as part of its $7 million USDA BRDI grant.
“We’re filling orders as fast as we can now because we’ve satisfied the main concerns the tire industry previously had incorporating guayule into the manufacturing process. They’ve had their own scientists prove independently of our findings that our rubber exceeds their high standards and we can produce it in a measurable and timely fashion,” added Fraley.
