A partnership for biorubber

On 28 January, Versalis entered into a strategic partnership with Yulex, a manufacturer of biomaterials from agricultural sources,  to produce guayule-based biorubber materials. Guayule is a non-edible shrub that requires little water and no pesticides and is an alternative source of natural rubber having, unlike the more common Hevea rubber, hypoallergenic properties.
The partnership will cover the entire production chain, from cultivation of the shrub to extraction of the rubber and the construction of a production plant in southern Europe as well as a biomass power station. The final applications of the material range from medical ones to large-scale consumer applications, but the real aim is to optimise the production process in order to enter the tyre industry. Indeed, the investment also covers an ambitious research project to develop a technology specifically for this purpose.
"The partnership with Yulex is strategic to Versalis, in view of concerns over the predicted scarcity of butadiene and the volatility of this chemical, which are putting pressure on the prices of products like synthetic rubber" commented Daniele Ferrari, CEO of Versalis. "The partnership with Yulex is the result of our commitment to and interest in entering the global market with one of the leading players in the field of green chemistry. All our partnerships in this sector are aimed at increasing Versalis' portfolio of green products and will supply our traditional production chains with high-performance bio-based intermediates, especially in the elastomers sector."