• Yulex is the first company to commercially extract latex from Guayule.
• The patented manufacturing process Yulex uses is economical as well as environmentally sound.
• The Yulex biorefinery is fully automated 24/7 and produces medical-quality natural rubber latex, bio-based materials such as cellulosic ethanol, adhesives, organic pesticides, wood preservatives and other specialty chemicals.

Proprietary Process Enables New, Domestic Latex Source

Automated processing facililty extracts latex

Yulex's commercial pilot operation is located in Phoenix, Arizona. The bioprocessing operations extract the natural rubber latex from the Guayule biomass utilizing environmentally friendly ("green") processing, using only aqueous (water-based) solution.

Extracting Natural Rubber Latex from Guayule

Once Guayule is delivered to the commercial bioprocessing facility, the procedure for extracting natural rubber latex from the plant begins. With our patented four step operation which includes grinding, filtration, clarification, and concentration. The process begins with homogenizing the Guayule plant. Branches are ground breaking open the cells in the plant, releasing intact rubber particles and creating an aqueous suspension (forming latex). The suspension is placed in a high-speed centrifuge for separation and Guayule rubber particles are lighter than the aqueous solution, they are separated from the suspension. The latex portion of the mixture is culled off the top (much the same way that cream is skimmed off milk) and purified. Yulex® latex is then shipped to the company's distribution and manufacturing partners.

Material and Manufacturing Innovation

(Photo by David Kadlubowski)
Guayule latex is milky white after processing

As the world leader in technological processes and products for guayule latex, Yulex Corporation currently has patents on the proprietary process and product, Yulex® latex and over seven additional patents for its co-products in development.

Ongoing research continues to ensure that high latex yields are maintained to feed the market, in particular the medical device market. The Scientific Advisory Board and other partners in biotechnology continually develop new intellectual property.

Research studies show that purified guayule latex has extremely low protein content different from Hevea protein and high molecular weight, of low polydispersity. Physical studies show high quality properties suited for the medical device industry.