Grant, MoU to further guayule development
Ever since agricultural-based biomaterials company Yulex Corporation was established, it has been supported by the University of Arizona; indeed, Yulex’s first experimental crops were planted on campus grounds and the university substantially contributed to Yulex's agronomic development successes. Yulex Corporation has now announced it will provide the University of Arizona a US$3 million, five-year grant. This grant focuses on the breeding and agronomic development of Guayule with the aim of producing biorubber for medical, consumer, and industrial applications.
Yulex and the University of Arizona will apply classical breeding along with modern tools for marker assisted breeding to Guayule lines to select traits for the crop improvement programme. University of Arizona’s Dr. Dennis Ray, a world-recognised Guayule expert, will lead the effort to produce a higher yielding rubber crop and to substantially decrease Guayule’s harvest cycle time.
Guayule is an industrial crop that does not compete against food or fibre crops, and it provides a renewable source of natural rubber latex that can replace petroleum-based synthetics and lessen reliance on imported tropical rubber. Guayule crops require relatively little water and no pesticides. Several tyre makers, including Cooper Tire & Rubber, Bridgestone Corporation and Pirelli, are looking into the use of guayule in commercially available tyres.
“Yulex is pleased to be providing this grant to the University of Arizona,” said Jeff Martin, chief executive officer, president and co-founder of Yulex Corporation. “The university has some of the best breeders in the world and this grant will enable the most comprehensive breeding program ever undertaken. Yulex’s extensive research and development in plant breeding, agronomic best practices and harvest technologies are fundamental to the continued advancement of guayule as a new industrial crop and to the expansion of our global licensing programme.”
“The UA has a long and storied history of working on the development of guayule as a new industrial crop for Arizona,” said Dr. Dennis Ray, distinguished professor at the University of Arizona. “That there is now a guayule industry is due in part to the work of a number of UA researchers over the past 20 years, and that I have been part of this work is very exciting and fulfilling. Commercial production of guayule was always our goal, and we look forward to a continued and productive collaboration with Yulex Corporation, the world leader in developing different biomaterials from guayule. The goal of our work will be to increase the rubber content in Yulex’s guayule lines and to decrease the time to harvest to help in the sustainable cultivation of guayule in Arizona.”
Pirelli to trial guayule tyres
While Yulex is working with the University of Arizona to establish a guayule industry in North America, in January the company entered into a strategic partnership with Italy’s Versalis; the aim of this partnership is to manufacture guayule-based biorubber materials at an industrial production complex in Southern Europe. On 19 March, Versalis also entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with Pirelli for joint research into the use of guayule-based natural rubber in tyre production.
The research project will run over a period of three years. On an exclusivity basis, Versalis will provide a range of guayule-based natural rubber materials, while Pirelli will carry out trial tests to validate the performance of the materials for tyre production. As soon as new industrial quantities become available, Versalis will supply Pirelli with guayule-based natural rubber to complement the current set of synthetic rubber that Versalis already supplies to Pirelli for the production of conventional tyres.
The agreement with Versalis integrates and extends Pirelli’s commitment to search for new materials from renewable sources, and especially from biomasses. Pirelli, which already produces tyres with raw materials derived from rice husk (the inedible part of the grain usually used as fuel), aims to gradually reduce its reliance on fossil resources, replacing them with alternative raw materials that induce better performance and match up with higher standards of environmental sustainability in terms of processes and products.
“This new partnership between Versalis and Pirelli builds on a series of initiatives to develop technologies for tyre applications with a focus on performance and energy efficiency,” said Versalis chief executive officer Daniele Ferrari. “Both companies are well-established industry leaders at an international level; they represent a sound model for undivided commitment to all levels of research, including the green sector.”
“Pirelli has always been dedicated to the development of innovative solutions that prioritise sustainability, and this means safety and respect for the environment,” added Maurizio Boiocchi, Pirelli’s chief technical officer. “In this regard, it is essential to prioritise research on renewable raw materials, an area where we hold industry leadership at an international level. The research project into guayule-based natural rubber is one of our key activities that fully engages our team of researchers; it also underlines the strategic importance of long-standing partnerships like the one we have announced today with Versalis.”
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