Bridgestone advances guayule rubber development efforts

Fukuoka, Japan – Bridgestone Corp. has announced its participation in a Fukuoka Biocommunity project and the start of associated research to improve productivity of guayule-derived natural rubber.

Fukuoka Biocommunity is a government-based regional initiative focused on developing technologies in the bio-tech field that are unique to specific regions of Japan, said a 27 June Bridgestone release.

“With Kurume Research Park as the secretariat, Fukuoka Prefecture and Kurume City are working together to create new industries and bio ventures with biotechnology at their core,” it explained.

The goal, added the group, is to form a biocommunity that brings together bio-related companies and research institutes, with Kurume City – the ‘birthplace’ of Bridgestone – at its centre.

Projects include a new seed-sowing initiative, with Bridgestone exploring technologies for the production of natural rubber from guayule shrubs grown in arid regions.

Bridgestone said it has now joined an industrialisation platform established by Fukuoka Biocommunity and will work with Kyushu University on this project.

The target will be to develop commercial-scale methods “for increasing the amount of rubber that can be harvested from guayule and technology for improving the variety.”.

The group is already conducting a €65-million, five-year guayule research project in the US with the University of Arizona, focused on on extracting natural rubber from the desert shrub.