Life Cycle Assessment of Guayule Tires
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Life Cycle Assessment of Guayule Tires Daina Rasutis ([email protected]) and Amy E. Landis, PhD ([email protected]) School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona Introduction and Background The research project will focus on using guayule natural rubber as a replacement for hevea natural rubber (from the rubber tree) and synthetic rubber in automobile tires. The Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) will incorporate data on guayule agriculture, latex and rubber extraction and tire manufacturing. Replacing hevea natural rubber with guayule natural rubber in automobile tires could have environmental, economic and social benefits, which will be analyzed using the LCA results. My Ongoing Research • Agricultural Data Collection • Guayule Processing Data Collection • Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) development • Research on valuable waste-streams from processing • Developing greenhouse experiments to test waste-streams on biofuel crops Life Cycle Assessment LCA addresses the environmental aspects and potential environmental impacts throughout a product's life cycle from raw material acquisition through production, use, end-of-life treatment, recycling and final disposal 5 Figure 3: Process flow diagram for cradle-to-grave analysis of guayule tires Benefits of Guayule Rubber in Automobile Tires Figure 2:Typical composition of passenger tire (adapted) 4 Figure 1: The resin, bagasse, rubber and latex from the guayule can be used to make a wide variety of products 1 References: [1] Nakayama, F. S. (2005). Guayule future development. Industrial Crops and Products, 22(1), 3-13. doi: 10.1016/j.indcrop.2004.05.006 [2] Ray, D. T., Coffelt, T. A., & Dierig, D. A. (2005). Breeding guayule for commercial production. Industrial Crops and Products, 22(1), 15-25. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.indcrop.2004.06.005 [3] Miyamoto, S., & Bucks, D. A. (1985). Water quantity and quality requirements of guayule: Current assessment. Agricultural Water Management, 10(3), 205-219. doi: 10.1016/0378-3774(85)90012-5 [4] Raahauge, R. F. S. C. M. H. L. (2012). "Comparative LCA of treatment options for US scrap tires: material recycling and tire- derived fuel combustion." The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment(18): 613-625. [5] ISO 14040 (2006). Environmental management. Life cycle assessment. Principles and framework. Second Edition. Why guayule (why-YOU-lee)? • Desert shrub local to American Southwest and Mexico -Agriculture similar to cotton -Requires little water and no pesticides • Natural source of rubber -Guayule and hevea (rubber tree) rubber are the only plants grown commercially for natural rubber 2 • Currently used mainly in the medical industry for latex- based products -The proteins in hevea cause Type I Latex allergy, while guayule is a source of hypoallergenic latex • Synthetic rubber does not have sufficient elasticity or resiliency for high performance requirements 3 • Guayule’s significance as a rubber will grow as the price of petroleum increases and production techniques for guayule improve. Acknowledgments This work is supported by the USDA BRDI Project
Transcript of Life Cycle Assessment of Guayule Tires
Life Cycle Assessment of Guayule Tires Daina Rasutis ([email protected]) and Amy E. Landis, PhD ([email protected])
School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona
Introduction and Background
The research project will focus on using guayule natural rubber as a replacement for hevea natural rubber (from the rubber tree) and synthetic rubber in automobile tires. The Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) will incorporate data on guayule agriculture, latex and rubber extraction and tire manufacturing. Replacing hevea natural rubber with guayule natural rubber in automobile tires could have environmental, economic and social benefits, which will be analyzed using the LCA results.
My Ongoing Research • Agricultural Data Collection • Guayule Processing Data Collection • Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) development • Research on valuable waste-streams from
processing • Developing greenhouse experiments to test
waste-streams on biofuel crops
Life Cycle Assessment LCA addresses the environmental aspects and potential environmental impacts throughout a
product's life cycle from raw material acquisition through production, use, end-of-life treatment,
recycling and final disposal 5
Figure 3: Process flow diagram for cradle-to-grave analysis of guayule tires
Benefits of Guayule Rubber in Automobile Tires
Figure 2:Typical composition of passenger tire (adapted) 4 Figure 1: The resin, bagasse, rubber and latex from the guayule can be used to make a wide variety of products 1
References: [1] Nakayama, F. S. (2005). Guayule future development. Industrial Crops and Products, 22(1), 3-13. doi: 10.1016/j.indcrop.2004.05.006 [2] Ray, D. T., Coffelt, T. A., & Dierig, D. A. (2005). Breeding guayule for commercial production. Industrial Crops and Products, 22(1), 15-25. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.indcrop.2004.06.005 [3] Miyamoto, S., & Bucks, D. A. (1985). Water quantity and quality requirements of guayule: Current assessment. Agricultural Water Management, 10(3), 205-219. doi: 10.1016/0378-3774(85)90012-5 [4] Raahauge, R. F. S. C. M. H. L. (2012). "Comparative LCA of treatment options for US scrap tires: material recycling and tire-derived fuel combustion." The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment(18): 613-625. [5] ISO 14040 (2006). Environmental management. Life cycle assessment. Principles and framework. Second Edition.
Why guayule (why-YOU-lee)?
• Desert shrub local to American Southwest and Mexico -Agriculture similar to cotton -Requires little water and no pesticides
• Natural source of rubber -Guayule and hevea (rubber tree) rubber are the only plants grown commercially for natural rubber 2
• Currently used mainly in the medical industry for latex-based products
-The proteins in hevea cause Type I Latex allergy, while guayule is a source of hypoallergenic latex
• Synthetic rubber does not have sufficient elasticity or resiliency for high performance requirements 3
• Guayule’s significance as a rubber will grow as the price of petroleum increases and production techniques for guayule improve.
Acknowledgments This work is supported by the USDA BRDI Project
