GUAYULE (WHY-U-LEE); NOUN A woody desert shrub native to northern Mexico and the southwestern United States, primarily Texas. Natural rubber can be extracted from the plant’s branches, bark and roots. The Case for Guayule - The Rubber-Centric View
• 2015 Natural Rubber Production • Tire Industry – Raw Material Use Global = 12,300,000 MT Natural Textile: 3% Asia-Pacific = 11,300,000 MT
Rubber: 28% Chemical: 5% US = 0
Steel: 15% Production by Region
/1000ha % Total Production
Asia 8,747 93% Africa 482 5% S. America 180 2% Synthetic Rubber: 23% TOTAL 9,704
Filler: 26% • 2015 Natural Rubber Consumption US = 1,700,000 MT ~ 70% used for tires
Overview: Natural Rubber Today
500% fluctuation in 5-years
100% increase in 10-months • Labor Rates • Competitive Crops • Supply-Demand Balance • Speculation Natural Rubber – The Situation
The single most important raw material for tire manufacturing is:
• Biologically single sourced A single species (Hevea Brasiliensis) supplies 100% of NR Clonal mono-cultures Disease issues Biodiversity
• Geographically concentrated 93% of global supply from SE Asia Rapidly increasing labor costs Competition with low-labor alternative crops (palm oil) Climate change risk Geo-Political issues / Political instability Supply-demand imbalance as China/India demand grows
• A Market Traded commodity subject to speculation and price-volatility Fortunately …. Alternatives Exist Long Term Vision for Natural Rubber Supply – Biologically Diversified
Sustainable • Biologically Diversified • Geographically Diversified
Hevea Guayule Russian Dandelion (Hevea brasiliensis) (Parthenium argentatum) (Taraxacum kok-saghyz)
Long Term Vision for Natural Rubber Supply – Geographically Diversified
Sustainable • Biologically Diversified • Geographically Diversified
Hevea Russian Dandelion Guayule Tropical Climates Temperate Climates Arid Climates Guayule History – 1900’s
•Wild stands of guayule harvested.
•20 extraction plants by 1910.
•10,000 t of guayule rubber exported to US in 1910 (24% of total import). Guayule History – 1920’s-1940’s
1920’s •Intercontinental Rubber Company – Rockefeller •Farms in US 7,500 acres.
1940’s •US had 30,000 acres of guayule under cultivation by the end of the war. This was destroyed due to confidence that synthetic rubber would fully Replace natural rubber.
Guayule History – 1980’s Bridgestone Approach to Guayule Rubber BRIDGESTONE CORPORATION is the world’s largest tire and rubber company, operating in more than 150 countries around the globe Bridgestone Approach to Guayule Rubber
Bridgestone Bridgestone Agro Operations Biorubber Process Research Farm Research Center (Eloy, AZ) (Mesa, AZ) Agriculture Program and Associated Challenges
Goal To create a crop that can effectively integrate into and compete within the existing agricultural economy Process & Rubber Product Optimization
We must balance technical needs, process complexity, up-time capability and investment to deliver a cost-competitive product Bio-Rubber Process Research Center - Site Aerial View Adopting a Bio-Refinery Approach
• The process creates three products: rubber, resin and bagasse
• Potential uses for additional products include:
• Energy
• Higher value commodity product (liquid fuels through pyrolysis, fermentation, other biochemical processes)
• High value product for tire industry (fillers, bio-monomers, compounding chemicals)
• Consumer products (composite building materials)
Rubber = 5.5%
Field Dried Shrub Defoliated Resin = 6.5% HARVESTED & HARVESTED (15% water) Shrub DEFOLIATED Water = 15% 100% 92% Bagasse = 73% Envisioning a New Domestic Industry
Agriculture: Process: Products: • Tires
Cutting Cutting • 440,000 MT/yr harvest 1 harvest 2 • $1.4B USD Revenue Direct 2 years 2 years 2 years Final Rubber Seed harvest • 25% of US Demand
• Biomass with 9.5% Rubber (Dry • 10 Factories (AZ, TX, NM, CA) Weight Basis) 1,390 MT/day processing rate • 285,000 MT/yr • 2+2+2 cropping system 350 annual operating days Per Factory • $0.13 - $0.65 B Resin • 10 MT Biomass per cutting (15% 487,000 MT/yr biomass input USD Revenue moisture)
• Acquisition cost < $153/MT • 250 – 400 M gallons A $3.5+ Billion USD ethanol + RIN’s • $0.9 - $1.4 B USD Industry Revenue • 487,000 acres harvested annually at 25% scale • $149 M annual farm revenue (domestic rubber basis) Bagasse • $0.6 B USD Revenue 3.65 Million MT/yr
Bridgestone – October 1st 2015 “FROM SEED TO TREAD: BRIDGESTONE REVEALS FIRST TIRES MADE ENTIRELY OF NATURAL RUBBER COMPONENTS FROM COMPANY’S GUAYULE RESEARCH OPERATIONS”
The Bridgestone Group will continue its research activities with guayule and various other raw materials with the aim of achieving its long-term environmental vision of shifting towards 100 percent sustainable materials in tires by 2050.