Preparation of Taraxacum kok-saghyz Rubber and Biofuel Ethanol Simultaneously by the Yeast Fermentation Process

Taraxacum kok-saghyz (TKS) rubber is considered the most ideal alternative sourceof naturalrubber (NR). Extracting rubber from TKS with highquality, low cost, and low pollution is the basis of commercial development.The TKS roots were subjected to morphological observationand detailed compositional analysis. Scanning electron microscopy(SEM) images confirm that rubber filaments are physically entangledwith plant tissues due to differences in molecular polarity. Comparedwith the traditional solvent TKS rubber extractionprocess, a new rubber extraction process developed in this study,namely, the microbial extraction (& DPRIME;ME & DPRIME;) process, isless harmful to the environment and lower in cost. The & DPRIME;ME & DPRIME;process is divided into three steps: dilute acid pretreatment process,enzyme degradation process, and fermentation process. After each stepis completed, the purity of TKS rubber will graduallyincrease from 84.8% to 93.8 to 95.5%. The TKS rubberfinally obtained fully meets the requirements of the traditional rubberindustry, especially the tire industry. Besides, the yield of biofuelethanol, a by-product of cellulose fermentation, reaches 2.05 g/100g of TKS roots (dry weight), which can effectivelyreduce the production cost of TKS rubber. In therubber extraction process, microorganisms have little effect on thequality of TKS rubber. The results show that themolecular weight and chemical structure of TKS rubberis very close to NR, so the & DPRIME;ME & DPRIME; processcan be used as a new method for large-scale extraction of TKS rubber.

Automated summary

The microbial extraction process for extracting rubber from TKS is less harmful to the environment and lower in cost compared to traditional solvent extraction. It can obtain high-purity TKS rubber that meets the requirements of the rubber industry.