Dr. Anvar Buranov, President/CEO, Nova-BioRubber Green Technologies Inc., Surrey, BC, Canada.
Global interest in the commercialization of rubber plant Taraxacum kok-saghyz (TKS) to extract valuable hypoallergenic bioproducts in a sustainable way has increased significantly. TKS contains up to 24% biolatex/biorubber, 40% inulin and 29% proteins. TKS takes 4 months to grow in moderate climates. Crop value is ~$31K/acre.
Ohio government funded ($3M) the development of TKS initially. Recently, BioMADE announced multi-million dollar investment into TKS development with GoodYear Tire and Rubber Company, Department of Defence (DoD) and Air Force Research Lab (AFRL). European countries invested 20 million euros under programs of EU-PEARLS and DRIVE4EU. Chinese government has recently joined to the race investing in the development of TKS. However, the climates of China and USA may not be ideal to grow TKS due to warmer summers. Rubber plant TKS sleeps for 2 months in warmer climates in the USA in particular Ohio in extensive heat (above 25 C) for two weeks.
Nova-BioRubber Green Technologies Inc has been developing annual crop TKS since 2012 in British Columbia, Canada. Our team developed novel growing and green processing technologies for the production of hypoallergenic and sustainable biorubber, biolatex, inulin and protein from TKS to solve latex allergy issue and satisfy need for healthy food ingredients. Our team developed hypoallergenic and sustainable bioproducts and proprietary extraction equipment such as: 1) Biorubber 2) Biolatex, 3) Inulin, 4) Proteins, 6) High quality seeds, 7) Patented green process and 8) Patented rubber extractor. About 30,000 hypoallergenic and sustainable products (medical gloves, yoga mats, tubes, catheters, shoe soles etc) can be manufactured from biorubber and biolatex. Inulin and proteins are healthy food ingredients for food industry. Patented green process and rubber extractor provide significant savings in processing costs. The production cost is significantly lower than previously developed polluting technologies.
Latex allergy issue is the severe sensitization of the skin to the proteins in latex products derived from the sap of the Brazilian Hevea rubber tree. Latex allergy can be very severe, career ending, and has even resulted in severe anaphylaxis and death. Data shows that approximately 10%-17% of healthcare workers have been diagnosed with a latex allergy. Latex allergy prevalence in the general population is 6.4% that is 500 million people worldwide. Currently, the Brazilian Hevea tree is the only source of commercial latex and natural rubber. Hevea tree takes 8 years to grow in Southeast Asia, requires extensive manual labor for latex collection and the latex causes latex allergy.
There are several issues to solve for successful commercialization of TKS. The issues are: 1) Lower seed germination in the fields 2) Direct seeding, 3) Weed control and 4) Development of green processing technologies and equipment. Our team has solved all scientific and technical challenges over the past 10 years. Currently, our company is directly seeding in the open fields and germination rate is 99.5%. The weed control methods are based on novel organic methods. Patented green process and proprietary equipment were tested by NRC Canada and Akron Rubber Development Lab in 2018 under financial support from Build in Canada Innovation Program (BCIP). Third party reports are available. Our team won Materials Innovation Award for developing hypoallergenic biolatex from Medilink, UK. Nova-BioRubber Company offers partnership to the interested parties to commercialize annual crop TKS at shortest period to save time and development expenses.
