New Facility Update »
The new office interior
Yulex Corporation’s new production facility, set to open January 2012, is located within the Lone Butte Industrial Park in Chandler, Arizona, and is part of the Gila River Indian Community. Yulex has refurbished and upgraded three existing structures on the site, as opposed to bulldozing and building from scratch, in a conscious effort to make the project as green as possible. Construction has already been completed on one of the buildings, and the Yulex office headquarters was moved into the new space in April. The remaining two structures will be used as manufacturing facility buildings, and construction on these structures recently passed the halfway point. The new facility will be producing both emulsion and solid biopolymers.
The new lobby
Employees have already been hired for the first shift of production at the new facility, and are currently in training at Yulex’s Maricopa facility. They will be responsible for raw material production and compounding. Hiring for the second shift crew will begin this January. The second shift employees will train for a month and begin their production shift at the end of the first quarter.
The equipment for the new facility has all already been ordered, and a great portion of it is being delivered. Yulex new facility has a 500 metric ton name plate capacity for the first year. This quantity will be increased in following years as customer demand increases. The new facility even has the capacity to double production quantities with the existing equipment.
The new landscaping
“We look forward to completing this significant expansion to our production capability and enabling Yulex to begin meeting the increasing demand for our elastomeric biomaterials,” said Jeff Martin, President and CEO of Yulex Corporation. “Our expanded capability allows us to provide renewable high performance materials for a variety of markets including consumer goods such as footwear, action sports gear, clothing and apparel, baby products, etc, as well as other industries such as medical devices, adhesives and resins.”
Check back for more exciting news from Yulex!
Rubber prices hit record high, fueling manufacturers’ appetite for Guayule rubber »
According to a report February 9 from Rubber & Plastics News, Hevea-based natural rubber prices have skyrocketed to an all-time high – tripling in the past two years. This is due to dramatic increases in demands for rubber material and a tightened supply. Industry experts see the upward trend continuing with soaring demand for raw materials in Asia and weather problems affecting rubber production in Southeast Asia.
Many manufacturers have been turning to synthetic rubber. As a result, since early October 2010 synthetic rubber prices have increased by 500%, from $600 to $3,000 per metric ton according to the ICIS. Compounding the increased demand for rubber, synthetic rubber is also petroleum-based and has grown more expensive as oil prices climb. In addition, as a petroleum product, it is a non-renewable material.
The rising costs of Hevea-based and synthetic rubbers are putting pressure on manufacturers to raise prices or face lower margins. The Financial Times reported, tire companies including Bridgestone, Michelin, and Goodyear, have raised prices by 5-15% in 2010 with more increases to come. Due to increasing financial pressures, manufacturers are looking for alternative sources of rubber. Guayule rubber has been emerging as an attractive and sustainable alternative to both natural rubber and synthetic rubber. Read the rest of this entry »
Distinguished Service: Guayule’s Role in World War II »
During World War II, trading and exchange with Southeast Asia was stifled and many Americans were required to ration items that were in short supply. Rubber was one such item and, in fact, was the first non-food item required to be rationed.
According to author and guayule scholar Mark R. Finlay, as early as 1910, the US was already importing over 79,000 pounds of rubber annually. During WWII when rubber supplies were minimal, heavy public pressure on politicians made finding a new source of rubber a top priority for officials looking to maintain support for the war.
1942: Newly-seeded guayule nursery beds in Salinas, California. Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress
Unfortunately, rubber trees, or Hevea brasiliensis, don’t just grow anywhere. Hevea trees require a very specific tropical climate to flourish, for which the U.S. is unsuitable. Scientists looked to guayule, which is native to the U.S. southwest, for a solution. The U.S. government developed an emergency rubber project with a budget of $40 million ($528 million adjusted to 2009 dollar value) and planned to grow 32,000 acres of guayule to meet domestic consumer needs.
Before commercial-scale guayule production farms were established, the war ended and with it so did the embargo on rubber from Southeast Asia. At the end of the war in 1945, projects to commercialize guayule were abandoned. With old rubber supplies restored, environmental responsibility a low national priority and Hevea rubber imports fairly cheap to import at the time, the United States resumed its dependence on a foreign supply of latex. Simultaneously, synthetic rubber, a petroleum byproduct, was introduced during this period and began to grow in popularity.
Guayule named Crop of the Week »
The Yuma Sun in Arizona named guayule the “Crop of the Week” for the week of October 16-22, 2010. Native to the deserts of the U.S. Southwest, the guayule shrub is a commercial crop that produces a domestic source of rubber. The Yuma Sun estimates that the amount of guayule being grown in Yuma is between 50-100 acres.
More than 150 miles east of Yuma sits Maricopa, the guayule capital of Arizona where far more guayule is grown and home to Yulex Corporation’s guayule processing plant. Last year, the Arizona Technology Council presented Yulex Corporation with the state’s Green Innovator of the Year award for its work bringing safe and sustainable guayule products to market.
The Yuma Sun reports that guayule was chosen as its “Crop of the Week” for its sustainability, versatility and significance as a new industrial crop. Out of more than 2,000 species of plants known to produce rubber, guayule is the only domestic rubber-producing plant used for latex production on a commercial scale. Not only is guayule a renewable industrial crop and produced without toxic solvents, but guayule-based products typically outperform petro-based products, yet, unlike plastics or synthetics, are still biodegradable. Guayule is also free of the proteins that cause reactions in those with a latex allergy and has been used in an assortment of consumer, healthcare and industrial products to prevent Type I and Type IV allergic reactions.
Latex Allergy Awareness Week »
Most people have a general idea of what latex is, but how can you be allergic to latex and what does that mean? Allergic reactions to natural latex from Hevea brasiliensis, or the Brazilian rubber tree, are the body’s detrimental response to the material’s protein composition. Having a latex allergy means one’s body has an abnormal, hypersensitive response to contact with the latex products. Effects range from a mild sneezing fit to more severe responses such as anaphylactic shock.
There are two different types of reactions: Type I, which is less common and results in an immediate, potentially life threatening reaction, and Type IV, which is a delayed physical reaction that usually translates to a skin rash. It’s estimated that more than 66 million people around the world (2.7 million in the US) are affected by a latex allergy. Not only are there millions of people with this allergy, there are millions of products that can serve as triggers for a reaction.
Latex is one of the most commonly used materials in consumer, medical and industrial products such as medical gloves, balloons and condoms. However, it can also be found in mattresses, chewing gum, clothing, children’s toys, dental dams, paint, glue and a host of other products. Even some flu vaccines contain materials that are capable of causing allergic reactions to those susceptible. With so many people at risk, and just as many potential triggers, there has been a reemergence of interest in finding safe, sustainable alternatives to natural latex.
