Systems And Methods For The Management Of Waste Associated With Processing Guayule Shrubs To Extract Rubber
AssigneeBridgestone Corporation
InventorsYingyi Huang, Hiroshi Mouri, Robert W. Handlos, Jenny L. Sheaffer
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Systems and methods for managing the waste associated with the extraction of rubber from guayule shrubs are provided. Also provided is a portable local sub-station for reducing the transportation costs associated with the processing of guayule shrubs for the extraction of rubber. Use of the disclosed systems, methods and/or local sub-station can reduce transportation costs, reduce processing costs and reduce the downstream processing complexity associated with the extraction of rubber from guayule shrubs.
Claims20
A method for managing waste from the processing of guayule shrubs for the extraction of rubber, the method comprising:
- utilizing harvested guayule shrubs including leaves, bark, and woody material from a harvest site;
- utilizing a local sub-station to (1) remove at least one of the leaves and dirt from the harvested guayule shrubs thereby producing a semi-processed guayule material with a weight that is at least 10% lower than the weight of the harvested guayule shrubs and (2) chop the semi-processed guayule material after removing at least one of the leaves and dirt but prior to transporting;
- and
- transporting the semi-processed guayule material to a remote rubber extraction plant configured to produce rubber, resin and waste bagasse from the semi-processed guayule material where the waste bagasse comprises at least 60% by weight of the semi-processed guayule material wherein the remote rubber extraction plant is located greater than 10 miles from the harvest site and from the local sub-station.
A system for managing waste from the processing of guayule shrubs for the extraction of rubber, the system comprising:
- a sub-system configured to receive harvested guayule shrubs including leaves, bark, and woody material from a harvest site;
- and
- a pre-processing sub-system comprising a local sub-station configured to first remove at least one of the leaves and root dirt from the harvested guayule shrubs and then chop the pre-processed guayule material after removing at least one of the leaves and dirt but prior to transporting, thereby producing a semi-processed guayule material with a weight that is at least 5% lower than the weight of the harvested guayule shrubs.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.