New Sustainable Green Industry Flourishes Thanks To U.S. Desert Plant

PRLog (Press Release) – Jan 14, 2008 – Guayule, a versatile desert plant native to the U.S. Southwest and now being grown in Australia too, is the foundation for a new renewable and eco-friendly industry. Commercialized in 2006 as a source of natural rubber latex for safer medical and consumer devices such as surgical gloves, catheters and condoms; today, guayule and is the only potential domestic source for another vital industrial material--bulk rubber--in the United States.

Guayule (www.guayuletech.com) has a history in the U.S. as an alternate source of rubber. During World War I when the Japanese cut off shipping routes between Southeast Asia, where close to 100 percent of the world’s rubber supply is sourced, and the U.S., the federal government rationed rubber and planted guayule fields to create a secure domestic source. After the war, trade with Southeast Asia resumed and the fields were destroyed. Today, the U.S. is once again vulnerable and dependent on external sources for this important industrial material which is the second largest import next to oil. 80 percent of the world’s natural rubber supply for critical products such as airplane tires and latex gloves comes from a single tree in Southeast Asia.

During the past several years, anecdotal evidence of rumored leaf blight outbreaks in India and Thailand have spread and the fear of losing this commodity increased. An October 2007 article published by industry-leading trade journal Rubber & Plastics News confirms the possibility of economic havoc with specific details about an outbreak of leaf blight “throughout the continents where 93% of the world’s supply of natural rubber is produced.” (http://www.globaltirenews.com/headlines2.html?id=1193689793)

In addition rubber prices have been increasing sharply as world demand rises, while synthetic alternatives to rubber and latex require petroleum to produce and, therefore, are increasingly expensive as well as inferior in performance to rubber and latex from natural sources.

One company in the United States, Yulex Corporation, has developed proprietary guayule-based technology to extract its latex content for dipped latex medical products while investing heavily in new technologies and science to produce bulk rubber on a sustainable basis from the plant while using the bagasse for green energy production. Yulex® Latex is on the market and being used to make balloon catheters that are safer for patients with Type 1 Latex Allergy. The Yulex scientific and agricultural team, USDA Agriculture Research Service and academic partners including the University of Arizona have developed best practices for cultivating and harvesting guayule, increasing its latex yields and developing the highest quality guayule seeds for proprietary guayule lines. In 2006, Yulex Corporation expanded operations to Queensland, Australia where guayule seedlings will be harvested for their latex in 2008.

Guayule is also being investigated by Yulex Corporation and its government and academic partners for producing renewable energy for electrical power and biofuels, resins for bioadhesives and pesticides, bulk rubber for tires, and composites for anti-termite particle board and cellulosic insulation.

To learn more about guayule and this exciting industry, visit www.guayuletech.com.