By By Karen Graham Apr 22, 2015 in Business Rubber tree plantations in Southeast Asia have supplied most of the world's natural rubber for truck, car and airplane tires for the last century. But a number of issues can interupt its flow to the world market. It was sensible that manufacturers of rubber products search for an alternative to the one supply source. In World War II, Japan cut off rubber supplies, making it necessary for the U.S. to find alternatives. Out of this problem came our domestic synthetic rubber industry, and along with it, the birth of the petrochemical industry. But even so, tire manufacturers have long sought an alternative to using natural rubber from rubber trees, even though there is no real substitute for the natural product. The chemical properties of natural rubber make it essential for use in truck and airplane tires, and there can be no substitute. But other products once made using natural rubber can be made using alternative sources. And this is what scientists have been working on. Now they have finally been able to extract it economically from a plant called guayule ( Alexander Tullo, a senior correspondent with Chemical and Engineering News wrote an article that explains how scientists have developed an The full article in was published on April 20, 2015 in Tire manufacturers have been dependent on this critical raw material from a single region of the globe for a century, and in turn, have seen their supply chains become very vulnerable to everything from disease and bad weather to political upheaval, and environmental issues.It was sensible that manufacturers of rubber products search for an alternative to the one supply source. In World War II, Japan cut off rubber supplies, making it necessary for the U.S. to find alternatives. Out of this problem came our domestic synthetic rubber industry, and along with it, the birth of the petrochemical industry.But even so, tire manufacturers have long sought an alternative to using natural rubber from rubber trees, even though there is no real substitute for the natural product. The chemical properties of natural rubber make it essential for use in truck and airplane tires, and there can be no substitute.But other products once made using natural rubber can be made using alternative sources. And this is what scientists have been working on. Now they have finally been able to extract it economically from a plant called guayule ( Parthenium argentatum Gray) , that's native to the southwestern U.S.Alexander Tullo, a senior correspondent with Chemical and Engineering News wrote an article that explains how scientists have developed an extraction process to get the rubber trapped in the cells of the Guayule plant. He says manufacturers are already using the process in the manufacture of numerous latex products and a very popular wetsuit. The process is still a little costly, but tire manufacturers are poised to benefit, and test crops are being grown in arid locations in different parts of the world.The full article in was published on April 20, 2015 in Chemical and Engineering News More about rubber trees, critical raw material, domestic synthetic rubber industry, guayule, supply diversity More news from rubber trees critical raw materia... domestic synthetic r... guayule supply diversity Latest News Top News