Dandelion rubber gets ready for the market

Research done by Prof. Dirk Prüfer and his team makes transfer possible / "Taraxagum project is an outstanding example of the way that Münster University stands for top-level research" Years ago, the idea sounded anything from weird to audacious: manufacturing car tyres from dandelions. But Prof. Dirk Prüfer and his team of around 15 researchers were convinced right from the beginning, in 2006, that there was a long-term chance of success for obtaining from the common dandelion ( Taraxacum ) large quantities of the natural rubber needed for many rubber products - instead of having to import it from distant tropical regions. Dirk Prüfer is Professor of the Biotechnology of Plants at the University of Münster and heads the Department of Functional and Applied Genomics at the Fraunhofer Institute of Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology in Münster and Aachen. Now, since December 6, Prüfer can look at an area of around 30,000 square metres and see that with the years of basic research he has undertaken, he has taken a significant step towards serial production. After four years of planning and preparation, tyre manufacturer Continental has officially opened its "Taraxagum Lab Anklam" research and testing laboratory in Anklam, in the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. In the laboratory, 20 agricultural scientists, chemists and production technicians will be collaborating with Prüfer to advance the cultivation of plants locally and carry out experiments for processing Russian dandelion.