Making rubber from dandelions
Making rubber from dandelions
(OP)
http://news.yahoo.com/tire-makers-race-turn-dandel...
So you thought your backyard weeds were a pain. Well maybe not.
So you thought your backyard weeds were a pain. Well maybe not.





RE: Making rubber from dandelions
It is better to have enough ideas for some of them to be wrong, than to be always right by having no ideas at all.
RE: Making rubber from dandelions
Mike McCann, PE, SE (WA)
RE: Making rubber from dandelions
So natural rubber can be grown in more places, and possibly replace synthetic rubber (probally not). But it reduces the dependice on tropical land for supporting the modern world.
RE: Making rubber from dandelions
RE: Making rubber from dandelions
RE: Making rubber from dandelions
"weeds into rubber" isn't exactly new.
RE: Making rubber from dandelions
The only questions left here is if it is cheeper to produce rubber from dandelions? How do you harvest them and how fast can you make a crop out of them?
The existing process involves growing a tree, then harvesting it.
I would assume with dandelions the plant to harvest time would be much less, and the crops can be rotated from year to year. So it appears to be a process that has a quicker expantion capability to better deal with changes in demand.
RE: Making rubber from dandelions
RE: Making rubber from dandelions
Yes. Let's introduce genetically modified non-native plants on a massive scale. Nothing could possibly go wrong with that.
RE: Making rubber from dandelions
Do they harvest rubber trees these days Cranky?
I thought they tapped them repeatedly.
What is Engineering anyway: FAQ1088-1484: In layman terms, what is "engineering"?
RE: Making rubber from dandelions
They "harvest" the rubber trees at the end of their service life and make cheap furniture from them, but as noted the rubber is produced by tapping live trees and collecting the latex.
I was surprised to read on Wikipedia that natural rubber production is still about 40% of total rubber production, so I did some digging and the numbers are more or less accurate. I would have thought that SBR would have dwarfed it completely, but there you go- it's still cheap enough and the properties are great for some applications.
Where we need a bit of help is with the disposal of the used tires. They burn cleanly when burned in a properly designed combustor and have an incredibly high energy content, and are far cleaner as a fuel source than most coals. But because everybody has seen at least TV images of smoky, sooty burning tires (which is more pyrolysis than combustion), people think they are a dirty fuel and won't permit them to be burned in many jurisdictions. So instead, they sit in piles and burn by accident, creating major environmental impact even after the firefighters manage to put them out which is not easy by any stretch of the imagination. There are some re-use options (such as the use of recycled rubber crumb in asphalt etc.), and some people have tried to pyrolyze them to make liquid fuels, but there are still mountains of used tires to be found.
RE: Making rubber from dandelions
RE: Making rubber from dandelions
RE: Making rubber from dandelions
RE: Making rubber from dandelions
RE: Making rubber from dandelions
RE: Making rubber from dandelions
Old tires aren't just used for door mats any more.
Taping a tree is not harvesting the latex? Since when is cutting down a plant the only way to harvest a crop? You don't cut down nut trees to harvest the nuts do you.
I have to admit I haven't taped very many trees, and I am sure there is an art that works best. However how many years does it take to grow a tree to harvest age?
RE: Making rubber from dandelions
RE: Making rubber from dandelions
The next question would be if there would be quality differences, like there is between natural rubber and man-made rubber (or natural and natural rubbers).
I would also think with dandelions that crop rotation would be possible, allowing a farmer to change to a crop that maybe more needed next year.
RE: Making rubber from dandelions
Yawn. Anyone else here from the Midwest US? Dandelions over a foot in height with a taproot 1-1/2 times that is the norm, rather than the exception. You may have to go outside of the tightly controlled environment of the pristine suburban lawn to find them, but they're everywhere. Meadows, river banks, roadside ditches, anywhere that is not sprayed.
As long as we're going to do GMO voodoo on them, let's request the blossom be replaced by an orchid-like flower, maybe bear some variety of delicious fruit or nut, and emit Chanel No. 5 when picked.
It is better to have enough ideas for some of them to be wrong, than to be always right by having no ideas at all.
RE: Making rubber from dandelions
RE: Making rubber from dandelions
It is true that dandelions do grow over a foot tall in the midwest US (or what I call the midwest), but we do have to understand they are not native to the US, and have very few natural controls. So it should go without saying that a roundup proof dandelion would be a concern to other farmers who use roundup to kill dandelions.
I always hated having these and other weeds shorting out the electric fence when I was growing up. And the cows would not eat them.
Which brings up the question of how to dig up the tap root? I would assume something simular to potatoes.
RE: Making rubber from dandelions
It is better to have enough ideas for some of them to be wrong, than to be always right by having no ideas at all.
RE: Making rubber from dandelions
RE: Making rubber from dandelions
It is better to have enough ideas for some of them to be wrong, than to be always right by having no ideas at all.
RE: Making rubber from dandelions
RE: Making rubber from dandelions
Then maybe a press to extract the liquids?
RE: Making rubber from dandelions
RE: Making rubber from dandelions
YOu'd hope they'd have considered whether harvesting this was an option, my guess is not as beneficial as the root but who knows.
What is Engineering anyway: FAQ1088-1484: In layman terms, what is "engineering"?
RE: Making rubber from dandelions
*shrug* If they want to deal with more expensive machinery, slower growing cycles and more contamination (dirt) - go with roots too.
RE: Making rubber from dandelions
I really think there should be more interest in dandelions because they grow in more places than rubber trees do. But where the rubber trees grow the labor should be cheeper. The only thing that can bring down the cost of rubber production is machines.
If free trade remains like it is, than dandelions probally won't mature as a crop. However if free trade, or even wars, than it might become worthwhile.
RE: Making rubber from dandelions
It is better to have enough ideas for some of them to be wrong, than to be always right by having no ideas at all.
RE: Making rubber from dandelions
RE: Making rubber from dandelions