By DOUG GRAVES
Ohio Correspondent

COLUMBUS, Ohio — USDA researchers are abuzz about the new prospect of using flax from dandelions to produce rubber. But a brief glance at history proves that such research on the plant (or weed) was performed more than 60 years ago.

“Back then, the USDA had test plots of the plant in 40 states,” said Colleen Mahan, lead scientist for the USDA’s domestic natural rubber program. “The government sees this as strategically important. If we’re really serious, to have security of supply, we need more than one crop.”

During World War II, the Soviet Union made tires for its military machines out of rubber extracted from a dandelion that grows in the mountains of Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. The United States, whose supply of rubber was cut off by Japan during the war, began to experiment with the Russian dandelion.

When the U.S. lost access to most natural rubber sources during World War II, it inspired the production of synthetic alternatives. But natural rubber is still preferred for products that need elasticity and resiliency – such as tires.

Major work involving the dandelions took place in 1947, when the USDA performed research under the Emergency Rubber Production Act. In the early 1940s, dandelions were grown in 40 states and a processing plant was built in New Jersey.

“At the time, the U.S. began taking a long look at the plant, especially since the Russians were using it to produce tires with the latex from them,” McMahan said.

After the war, trade routes reopened and scientists began working on synthetic rubbers. Dandelion research was abandoned. But in the 1980s, during the energy crisis of that decade, the effort was rekindled.

“The federal programs related to the plant were small ones, but the effort continued through the 1980s with minimal support,” McMahan said. “In the early 1990s the project got a boost because of the need for alternative rubber being formed.”

There have been other attempts to extract rubber from North American plants, most notably Firestone’s 1980s work with the desert guayule shrub. But the challenge of processing shrubs and weeds is getting enough material to be commercially useful. McMahan said that the rubber from guayule and the Russian dandelion are identical except for proteins, fatty acids and other materials.

To make comparable rubber, “we’ll have to tweak the recipes for each,” she said.

According to McMahan, northern Ohio and Michigan appear to be prime climates for growing the dandelions. Researchers are also looking at cooler states such as Oregon and Montana.
She adds that the latex from these plants are “competitive with rubber coming from overseas.” McMahan also said economics play a huge factor in producing the dandelions in this country, rather than having them imported.

“We got a lot more attention from industry based on the price of rubber alone,” McMahan said.

“Natural rubber is going for $1.50 per pound. Our hope is to grow plants and produce rubber in the U.S. to benefit American agriculture, as well as supply security for our country.”