Casa Grande, Arizona—Bio-agriculture company, PanAridus, announced today they have tripled the size of their research and extraction departments since the beginning of the year, bringing significantly increased capabilities for extracting high grade natural rubber from their proprietary strains of guayule.
Leading the expanded polymer research team is Dr. Bruce King, PhD., who comes to PanAridus after a 32-year career in polymer research with Dow Chemical. Dr. King is credited with over 15 patents and 100 internal publications while working for Dow and is the co-inventor of new flame retardant technology for the foamed polystyrene industry, which was the winner of the 2012 R&D 100 Award.
Dr. King earned his PhD. from Pennsylvania State University, and has also served as an adjunct professor at Saginaw Valley State University for 25 years, teaching upper division polymer science to undergraduates.
“Providing the highest grade of guayule to the tire industry is key to their adoption of this alternative source of domestically-produced natural rubber,” said PanAridus CEO, Michael Fraley. “With the addition of Dr. King and his team, we’ll be able to extend our industry lead in both the quality and the amount of guayule rubber we’re providing to tire companies throughout the world who are keenly interested in discovering the next evolution in rubber science to offset an unstable natural rubber market and predicted shortfalls in their supply chain.”
To accommodate the increased staff, PanAridus has purchased additional extraction equipment and will be running multiple shifts in order to accommodate the increased demand for larger supplies required by tire companies looking to blend guayule rubber into their existing tire technologies.
“Our goal is not just to produce quality guayule, but to set the standard for the industry. Our genetics and our guayule seeds are already the top in the industry, and we’re the only guayule grower sharing our samples to independent third-party labs for quality inspection. Now, with the addition of Dr. King, we’ll extend our lead both in the quality of our polymer and extraction technology, becoming the only truly one-stop shop for guayule in the world,” Fraley said.
– See more at: http://www.panaridus.com