Dandelion Rubber Could Be Inexpensive, High Quality Alternative to Tree Rubber
by Matthew McDermott, Brooklyn, NY on 08. 7.08
photo by mgpenguin86 via flickr
Discovery News is highlighting an interesting development in the field of rubber. According to new research being done in Ohio, dandelion root sap could be made into a rubber of equal quality to traditional rubber from trees, at a lower cost.
The exact details concerning growing and harvesting the plants, such as how many inches apart and when they should be planted, are still being worked out, but the researchers expect that within a few years the processing plant in Ohio could produce about 20 million tons of rubber annually.By 2015 they hope to triple that amount, to more than 60 million tons, most of which will be used for research purposes.
Menacing Lawns?
I have to interject though, in the original article there are references to the menace of dandelions on American lawns: “Nearby lawn owners shouldn’t panic. The dandelions the researchers are using aren’t the ones disgracing our nation’s lawns...”
Perhaps the greater menace are the ways we care for the lawns themselves, chemical fertilizers and fossil-fuel powered lawn mowers.
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I love this sort of thing, it boggles the mind and makes me wonder why we didn't think of pulling the white stuff out of weeds earlier.
I could supply quite a few to the plant if it wasn't so far away.
This is great. I'm from Ohio, and trust me, they grow well here. As far as lawns go, I've always that that a lawn full of yellow flowers looks great. Dandelion wine is another good use for the "weed".
i like dandilions. . . have never felt them to be a "disgrace" to a lawn. they are pretty, and it's fun to blow the seeds away when they are ready.
60 million tons of rubber for research??? That's a lot of research!
Umm, this is WWII tech, isn't it?
Rgds
Damon
I like dandilions too. There is no real reason to put toxins on your lawn to get rid of them.
I've always thought dandelions are much prettier than grass. Most wildflowers are.
... with edible (and delicious) greens, flowers for the bees, beauty for the eyes, and no maintenance, they really can't be beat. Can we make ethanol from them or squeeze oil out? Oh, they also make great beauty products.
That would use quite a bit of arable land that could be used for food production. This would actually be one of the few things that would be better grown using the vertical gardens that keep popping up on TH.
They did use them to make tank treads in WW2, but it sounds like the new development is that dandelion rubber will now be higher quality. I wonder how the price will be, since the raw material is something people pay to get rid of.
Prediction: Large monoculture dandelion plantations drenched in herbicides that target fescue and bluegrass 'weeds.'
Lawns with Dandelions are so much healthier than those chemically treated green lawns, which need to be treated for grub infestation as well.
And you can be sure that they are not using natural measures to treat for those as well.
That is news for me. I knew about their health properties in natural teas, and then are the edible ones used in salad, but never about rubber making plants. If we need that many tons for research, what would we use the top part for? That would be a lot of tea...
You could grow a lot of dandelions in a hydroponic vertical garden/farm, and the roots would be easily accessible.