SCMP Economy9 hours agoScience1 min readChina
Chinese Scientists Extract Natural Rubber from Dandelion Weed
Quick Look
- Chinese scientists have successfully extracted natural rubber from the rubber dandelion weed in Xinjiang, harvesting 40kg from a test field.
- This breakthrough could significantly reduce China's dependence on imported natural rubber.
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Why It Matters
China heavily relies on imported natural rubber. The rubber dandelion (Taraxacum kok-saghyz) is a weed whose roots contain natural rubber.
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Chinese scientists have turned a dandelion-like weed into natural rubber, a step that could help cut China’s heavy reliance on imported rubber.
But when its root is broken, it oozes a milky fluid that is natural rubber.
The weed is known as the rubber dandelion, or Taraxacum kok-saghyz.
Last month, researchers in Xinjiang harvested one tonne of dried roots from a 20-mu (about 1.3-hectare) test field and extracted 40kg (88lbs) of natural rubber.
Open Questions
- What is the cost-effectiveness of this extraction method?
- How scalable is the cultivation of rubber dandelion?
- What is the quality of the extracted rubber?
Related Topics
This article was originally published by SCMP Economy.
