Rubber and latex extraction processes for Taraxacum kok-saghyz

Natural rubber (NR) has unique properties which are unmatched by synthetic and is used in over 50,000 products. The only commercial source of NR the Para tree (Hevea brasiliensis) insecure because increasing demand, price instability, high labor costs, trade politics, competition with other crops, deforestation bans preventing new H. brasiliensis acreage, disease. Taraxacum kok-saghyz, root dandelion, produces quite similar to that from brasiliensis. One major challenges turning T. kok-saghyz into an industrial rubber-bearing crop lack environmentally friendly cost-effective process for extraction proven at scale. Rubber present as latex solid threads. If form not required, better option recover all after drying roots. This review summarizes (flow blender methods) (wet milling, enzyme digestion, solvent extraction, dry milling processes) their effects on yield quality (molecular weight purity). current future perspectives improving processes discussed.