Natural rubber is a strategic raw material used in more than 40,000 applications. The United States has no natural rubber domestic production and is dependent upon imports; the nation uses more than 20 percent of the global supply. More than 90 percent of natural rubber global production is in South East Asia. Russian dandelion (TKS) will be evaluated for production of higher value products (biofuels, and rubber) through development of hybrid production systems for TKS for natural rubber.
We're going to be in a rubber deficit in 2010,” he said. “We're consuming more than we're producing, like the situation we're in with oil. Right now, we're in a surplus, but you wouldn't know it. The price has more than tripled, going from 28 cents to $1.78.”
Johnson hopes to help prevent a rubber deficit in 2010 and reduce the United States' dependence on foreign natural rubber production by developing a natural rubber producing crop to serve as an alternative crop for eastern Montana farmers. Commercial rubber companies across the United States have expressed support for the project. Johnson said he believes this alternative crop could be a profitable cash crop for eastern Montana farmers. “It would be a 12-month crop, planted in April and harvested the following April,” he said. “It would be harvested by digging the roots a lot like sugar beets. The roots would be processed and milled down, then the ‘worms' or bands of rubber would be extracted from the biomass.”
In addition to producing natural rubber to lessen the nation's dependence on foreign supplies, Johnson said ethanol could be a byproduct of Russian dandelion production. “The biomass is 65 to 68 percent ethanol,” he explained. “It could be used to produce 50-cent per gallon ethanol as opposed to more expensive ethanol production using small grains.”
|
