To solve certain environmental issues, more and more companies are turning to biobased materials, materials extracted from nature. Tyre manufacturer Vredestein recently presented a road bike tyre made from dandelion rubber. Wageningen University in the Netherlands collaborated on the project.
At the Eurobike in Friedrichshafen at the end of August, tyre manufacturer Vredestein showed a prototype of the Fortezza Flower Power, a road bike tyre made from rubber from the roots of Russian dandelions. This innovation was made possible by a collaboration between Vredestein and Wageningen University & Research (WUR), among others, within the EU research project DRIVE4EU. The bicycle tyre's design features a unique green 'top layer', making it easily recognisable and emphasising its natural character.
Cycling on dandelion
The Fortezza Flower Power is the world's first bicycle tyre made from the natural rubber from the roots of the Russian dandelion, officially called Taraxacum koksaghyz. However, the plants used for this particular series of prototype tyres were grown and harvested in the Netherlands.
Vredestein and the WUR have been closely involved in the development and initial industrialisation of this special natural rubber, which has now been tested in various 'compounds': mixtures of natural rubber and other substances that give tyres specific properties. Each time the process of rubber extraction was improved, an immediate improvement in the quality of the rubber was also observed. As a result, the rubber material used for this road bike tyre has more grip on the road than traditional compounds. This is due to the higher concentration of natural resin in this natural rubber variant.
DRIVE4EU
Apollo Vredestein (the parent company of the Vredestein brand) is one of the industrial partners in the DRIVE4EU project, which aims to develop the production chain of natural rubber and inulin from Russian dandelion. DRIVE4EU stands for 'Dandelion Rubber and Inulin Valorisation and Exploitation for the EU'. The DRIVE4EU consortium consists of eight industrial partners and five research organisations, which together bring a wide range of knowledge and expertise: from bioscience to product development. The project, which already started in 2014, is coordinated by Wageningen University & Research. The involvedefn hope that, thanks to the results of DRIVE4EU, European countries will become less dependent on the import of natural rubber from rubber trees in the near future while responding to the global threat of rubber shortages.
'The quality of natural rubber still cannot be replicated by synthetic rubber, which is made from petroleum,' says Dr Ingrid van der Meer, coordinator of the DRIVE4U project. 'Natural rubber is used in more than 50,000 products, think aircraft and car tyres, draught strips, medical equipment and condoms. So we cannot do without natural rubber.' The Russian dandelion is the first new source of natural rubber found after the South Asian rubber tree.
Research into bio-based materials
Wageningen University has been researching biobased materials for some time. 'Wageningen Food & Biobased Research focuses on developing renewable materials such as bioplastics, thermosets and agro-fibre-based materials and products. To compete with petroleum-based materials, we work in our laboratories directly for industrial partners on improving properties such as heat and moisture resistance. We also develop bio-based polymer additives, such as plasticisers and stabilisers. We often do this one-on-one for industry but also in large European and national research programmes such as the Biobased Performance Materials (BPM) Programme .'
By: Kelly Bakker
Source: WUR
