Yulex Corporation

United States of America, As Represented by the Secretary of Agriculture

The Ohio State University

Katrina Cornish

Rodger T Marentis

Niu Dong

Jali Williams

Jeffrey A Martin

Sebastian S Plamthottam

Colleen M McMahan

Maureen C Whalen

Terry A Coffelt

Kc Nguyen

Brian Fishman

Christopher J D Mau

Raymond G McCoy, Iii

Anthony Nocera, Jr

Rodger A Marentis

Williams Jali

Raymond G Mccoy Iii

Methods are provided for rapid and efficient removal and separation of leaves and bark from harvested plant material for use in extraction and purification of plant products, and in particular, the removal of leaves and bark from Guayule for the extraction of latex for use in latex and rubber products.

Bioprocessing of harvested plant materials for extraction of biopolymers and related materials and methods

The present invention relates to transgenic guayule plants that produce increased amounts of rubber uses thereof.

Transgenic guayule for enhanced isoprenoid production

This invention is directed to a new technique of genetic transformation using low light conditions and leaf strips in the Guayule plant,. The invention also relates to new lines of Guayule, created through this technique.

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The present disclosure provides for a formula and process for making elastomeric rubber thin film articles. In particular, the formula and process is a system which produces non-or Guayule natural rubber latex (GNRL) thin film articles which have a thickness of 30-80 microns (0.03-0.08 mm), and preferably less than 40 microns (0.04 mm). These thin film articles exhibit physical strength properties similar to that ofnatural rubber latex (NRL). More specifically, the disclosed thin rubber thin film articles exhibit unaged tensile strength of at least 24 MPa (about 3500 psi) and aged tensile strength of at least 19 MPa (about 2800 psi).

Guayule natural rubber latex thin film articles

Transgenic guayule lines were created by constitutively expressing transgenes that encode for prenyltransferase and allylic diphosphate synthase. These new lines are important to rubber production because they result in plants that produce latex rubber which is lower in guayulin, a compound that produces a skin irritation in some animals. Controlling prenyltransferase production also permits the control of the production of resin by the plants, which has important industrial implications. Additionally, prenyltransferase manipulation can result in latex particles of different size, containing rubber of different molecular weight, which is also significant to industrial production. Although the elevated prenyltransferase activity in the transgenic lines resulted in shorter rubber molecules, the number of rubber molecules made by these transgenic lines was increased.

Guayule plants, products, and derivatives

Disclosed is a method and apparatus for the extraction of high molecular weight biopolymers from plants. Specifically, invention described herein relates to the commercial processing of plant material, including that from desert plants native to the southwestern United States and Mexico, such as the guayule plant (), for the extraction of biopolymers, including natural rubbers. More specifically, the invention relates to laboratory to commercial scale extraction of high molecular weight biopolymers from plant materials including the chemical and mechanical processing of the plants and purification of the extracted biopolymer.

Biopolymer extraction from plant materials

The present disclosure provides for a method of rapid expanded solvent extraction of biopolymers, such as rubber, from plant materials, such as guayule, using an expanded hexane solvent. As is illustrated herein, the use of the expanded hexane solvent results in a markedly more efficient and rapid extraction process over other supercritical carbon dioxide extraction systems, including those systems using a hexane cosolvent.

Rapid expanded solvent extraction

A method for the extraction, separation, fractionation and purification of biopolymers from plant materials using supercritical and/or subcritical solvent extractions is disclosed. Specifically, the process can be used for the separation of resins and rubber from guayule shrub (), and other rubber and/or resin containing plant materials, using supercritical solvent extraction, for example supercritical carbon dioxide extraction. Additionally, polar and/or non-polar co-solvents can be used with supercritical carbon dioxide to enhance the selective extraction of resins and rubbers from the shrub.

Growing community of inventors

Vista, CA, United States of America

Katrina Cornish