Demand For Natural Rubber Research Articles

Reviving Natural Rubber Synthesis via Native/Large Nanodiscs.

Natural rubber (NR) is utilized in more than 40,000 products, and the demand for NR is projected to reach $68.5 billion by 2026. The primary commercial source of NR is the latex of Hevea brasiliensis. NR is produced by the sequential cis-condensation of isopentenyl diphosphate (IPP) through a complex known as the rubber transferase (RTase) complex. This complex is associated with rubber particles, specialized organelles for NR synthesis. Despite numerous attempts to isolate, characterize, and study the RTase complex, definitive results have not yet been achieved. This review proposes an innovative approach to overcome this longstanding challenge. The suggested method involves isolating the RTase complex without using detergents, instead utilizing the native membrane lipids, referred to as "natural nanodiscs", and subsequently reconstituting the complex on liposomes. Additionally, we recommend the adaptation of large nanodiscs for the incorporation and reconstitution of the RTase complex, whether it is in vitro transcribed or present within the natural nanodiscs. These techniques show promise as a viable solution to the current obstacles. Based on our experimental experience and insights from published literature, we believe these refined methodologies can significantly enhance our understanding of the RTase complex and its role in in vitro NR synthesis.

Sustainability Assessment of Natural Rubber Primary Processing: A Review

Natural Rubber is an important commodity for the world due to its valuable properties such as good elasticity and renewable. Natural rubber is used to produce various important products such as tire, sport equipment, and medical devices. With increasing demand for these products, the demand of natural rubber is projected to jump in the future. To fulfil this demand, the increasing of natural rubber production is unavoidable. However, to use natural rubber in producing those final products, it needs to flow through primary processing such as crumb rubber manufacturing process, crepe rubber processing and latex centrifuge processing. These processes become source of income for countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand as well as citizen of those countries. Despite of these positive impacts, the environmental impacts of natural rubber primary processing such as greenhouse gas emission, waste, high water and energy consumption are identified. Thus, to maintain sustainability, monitoring of sustainability impacts from natural rubber primary processing is necessary. Sustainability assessment is a procedure to evaluate sustainability impacts of products, process and policies. This paper aims to review sustainability assessment process applied in Natural Rubber Primary Processing.

Navigation of autonomous vehicle for rubber tree orchard

This research has studied the navigation of autonomous vehicles in rubber tree orchards. It was emphasised on the rubber tree plantation in Thailand. Due to the high labour costs in the rubber industry and the demand for natural rubber has continued to decline over the past several years. The farmer were struggled to reduce the labour costs in production. The development of autonomous vehicle technology in rubber plantation can be a way to ease the production costs, such as reducing the amount of labour in fresh latex harvesting. This work was aimed to develop algorithm of a vision system for replacement of expensive sensors used in typical autonomous vehicles. The vision system model was implemented using only one camera installed on the vehicle to search for calibrated targets which were put on the rubber tree trunk. There were two important parameters, tree row offset and target distance, which were concerned when determining the performance of the autonomous vehicle in the rubber tree orchards. In order to evaluate the accuracy of the system, a set of experiments was conducted at a distance of 1-5 meters between the target and the camera. The results were compared between the controlled environment in the laboratory and the uncontrollable environment in the real rubber plantation.

The implications of US punitive tariffs on Chinese tires for rubber exports from South-East Asia

In July 2015, the United States finalized the countervailing and anti-dumping tariff rates against tire imports from China. The tariff increases are substantial and irrevocable until 2020. We show that the US tariff hikes adversely affect the world tire trade, resulting in a weaker demand for natural rubber from South-East Asia. Using an economic simulation model, we find that the collateral damage to natural rubber export is about $48 million a year in Indonesia, $42 million a year in Thailand, $18 million a year in Malaysia, and $4 million a year in Vietnam.

Volatility and Market Risk of Rubber Price in Malaysia: Pre- and Post-Global Financial Crisis

The volatility in rubber price is a significant risk to producers, traders, consumers and others who are involved in the production and marketing of natural rubber. Such being the case, forecasting the rubber price volatility is desired to assist in decision-making in this uncertain situation. The 2008 Global Financial Crisis caused some disruptions and uncertainties in the future supply or demand for natural rubber and thus leading to higher rubber price volatility. Using ARCH-type models, this paper intends to model the dynamics of the price volatility of Standard Malaysia Rubber Grade 20 (SMR 20) in the Malaysian market before and after the Global Financial Crisis. Additionally, Value-at-Risk (VaR) approach is implemented to evaluate the market risk of SMR 20. Our empirical result denotes the existence of volatility clustering and long memory volatility in the SMR 20 market for both crisis periods. Leverage effect is also detected in the SMR 20 market where negative innovations (bad news) have a larger impact on the volatility than positive innovations (good news) for post-crisis period. When tested with Superior Predictive Ability (SPA) test, FIGARCH model is the best model across five loss functions for short- and long-term forecasts for pre-crisis period. Meanwhile, over post-crisis period, FIGARCH and GJR GARCH indicate the superior out-of-sample-forecast results and better forecasting accuracy over short- and long-term horizons, respectively. In terms of market risk, the short trading position encounters higher risk or greater losses than the long trading position at both 1 and 5 % VaR quantile for pre-crisis period. In contrast, over post-crisis period, long traders of rubber SMR 20 tend to face limited gains but unlimited losses.

An Application of Analytical Hierarchy Process for Ranking Factors Affecting of Thai Natural Rubber Ribbed Smoked Sheets No.3 (RSS3) Price

The objectives of this research are to determine criteria and order of magnitude of the criteria affecting natural rubber prices of Thailand emphasizing on rubber ribbed smoked sheets No.3 prices (RSS3). The study began with the interview on the situation of natural rubber prices with the people from government, public, agricultural, and financial sectors who were relevant to Thailand rubber industry. The researcher asked for their suggestions on the significance of criteria affecting RSS3 prices. Questionnaire was used to verify the criteria. Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) was the instrument for sorting an order of magnitude of the criteria affecting RSS3 prices. Results indicated that there were 7 main criteria which affected RSS3 prices i.e. quantity of natural rubber, demand for natural rubber, currency exchange rate, crude oil price, world economic situation, Thailand’ situation, and advanced market speculation. The results reflected the criteria affecting the movement of RSS3 prices which were beneficial for predicting the tendency of RSS3 prices.

Rubber latex production in Hevea brasiliensis with high density planting

Despite short-term fluctuation of rubber prices, the demand of natural rubber has increased continuouslywith the increase in population and living standards of the human being. Nevertheless, urbanizationresults in the fast depletion of forests as well as the land area under rubber. Therefore, in order tomeet the continuous demand on latex, the productivity of rubber plantations should be increased.While producing high yielding clones for improved yield per tree which is a long-term process inperennial crops, planting density could be adjusted to obtain high productivity in rubber plantations.The present level of planting density of rubber in Sri Lanka has been decided on the experimentsconducted with the genotypes which are not in common use at the moment. Also, the optimum densityshould vary with different socio-economic conditions. Therefore, the present study was aimed toidentify the suitable planting density for the recently developed and commonly used genotypes of rubber. Specifically, this paper is focused to assess the overall productivity of rubber with respect tolatex yield.The experiment was set up in Rathnapura district of Sri Lanka in 1992. Rubber was planted in threehigh densities, i.e., 600, 700, 800 trees per hectare, with the presently recommended level of500 treesper hectare. Also, 3 genotypes (clones) i.e., RRIC 100, RRIC 110 and RRIC 121 were incorporatedwith the statistical design of split plot where the planting densities were laid as the main plots whilstclones were in the sub plots. Growth and yield parameters in terms of girth, bark thickness (8T), andthe incidences of tapping panel dryness (TPD) were assessed yearly and the latex volume (LV), %dry rubber content (DRC), number of trees in tapping (TIT) were assessed on daily basis up to 2004.Irrespective of the clone used, mean yield per tree per tapping decreased with increase in plantingdensity. However, it was vice versa in the case of yield per hectare (YPH) due to the increase in TITwith increase in planting density. The percentage of trees with 'fPD was not significantly affected bythe planting density. The clone RRIC 110 was infected with Coryncspora leaf disease hence poorperformance was shown in all densities. The trend of increasing YPH was similar in both otherclones. i.c. RRIC 100 and RRIC 121. However, the rate of increase in TIT showed a decline of700trees per hectare resulting in a lower YPII at this level than expected. Although latex productivitycould generally be increased with increase in planting density, overall economic profitability of thesystem wi II also depend on cost of production, amount and va lue or tim bel' and carbon produced.Therefore, study warrants further investigations on above issues before making any changes to thepresently recommended planting density.

Timber production in high density planting of Hevea brasiliensis

The demand of natural rubber has increased continuously with the increase in population and living standards of the human being. Rubber plantations are also a major resource of timber and fuel wood. In order to meet the continuous increase in demand for latex, timber and fuel wood, the productivity of rubber plantations should be increased. Whilst producing high yielding clones for improved latex and timber yield per tree which is a long-term process in perennial crops, planting density could be adjusted to obtain high productivity in rubber plantations. The present level of planting density of rubber in Sri Lanka has been decided on the experiments conducted with the genotypes which are not in common use at the moment. Also, the optimum density should vary with different socio-economic conditions. Therefore, the present study was aimed to identify the suitable planting density for the recently developed and commonly used genotypes of rubber. This paper is focused to assess the timber production of rubber with respect to high density planting. The experiment was set up in Ratnapura district of Sri Lanka in 1992. Rubber was planted in three high densities, i.e., 600, 700 and 800 trees per hectare, with the presently recommended level of 500 trees per hectare. Also, three genotypes (clones) i.e., RRIC 100, RRIC 110 and RRIC 121 were incorporated with the statistical design of split plot where the planting densities were laid as the main plots whilst clones were in the sub plots. Five trees in each sub plot were selected randomly and were used for the measurements of total tree height (TH), crown height (CH), thickness of the untapped bark (BT) and tree diameter at breast height at 11 years after planting (11 YAP). Thereafter, stem volumes were determined using Newton’s formula. Both TH and CH did not vary significantly among planting densities tested. Though not statistically significant, there was a marginal decrease in tree diameter with the increase in planting density. Irrespective of the clone used, BT and mean merchantable timber volume per tree decreased significantly with increase in planting density. Nevertheless, this decline was compensated by increased number of trees in high densities resulting in comparable levels of merchantable volume per hectare among different densities. Total stem volume per tree remained same among four densities tested with that total stem volume per hectare increased significantly with the increase in planting density. Therefore, higher densities are more useful in the industries of fuel wood, pulp, MDF boards etc. Among the clones tested, the clone RRIC 121 outperformed in growth and timber production. The clone RRIC 110 was infected with Corynespora leaf disease hence showed poor performance in all densities. Despite the increase in total timber production with the increase in planting density, overall financial viability of different densities is to be assessed considering all cost components and valuing both timber and latex produced before making any firm recommendation.

Performance of <i>Hevea brasiliensis</i> on Haplic Ferralsol as Affected by Different Water Regimes

Problem statement: Rubber has been grown more than a century in South East Asia, who has been the largest producer of natural rubber. Demand of natural rubber increases steadily due to increasing demand particularly from developing countries. Water has been a limited and invaluable resource especially in agriculture. This resource has to be used wisely and there is a need for a detailed study pertaining to water requirement of rubber plants. This study provides details about rubber plants growth in relation to water stress. Approach: Two new latex timber clones from Malaysia Rubber Board (MRB), RRIM 2005 and RRIM 3001 were used in this study with soil from Haplic Ferralsol used as planting media. Five levels of treatment were used; plants irrigated for every 2, 5, 10 and 15days and everyday which acted as control. The experimental design used was a Completely Randomized Block Design (RCBD) with four replications. Results: Results showed treatment well watered for clone RRIM 2025 (T6) had most the turgidity with high mean value in stomata conductance and chlorophyll content. RRIM 2025 also more resist to water stress compared to RRIM 3001. All plants in treatments with extreme different in water regimes cannot survive and dead due to severe stress. Conclusion: This study found rubber clones RRIM 2025 and RRIM 3001 cannot survive with acute deficiency of water. Rubber cannot be planted in dry areas with low water regimes which will retard the plant growth and plant will die under severe water stress.

Effects of Varying Parameters on Solvent Extraction of Natural Rubber from Guayule

Abstract Current annual demand for natural rubber in the United States is around 900,000 metric tons, all of which must be imported from countries with tropical rain forest climates. Since natural rubber is a strategic material, it is vital for the US to develop both a domestic source and the technology to extract and utilize the rubber and coproducts efficiently (Bragg and Lamb, 1980).