Today Continental, technology company and manufacturer of premium tires, has officially inaugurated its research and test laboratory named “Taraxagum Lab Anklam” in Anklam, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Germany, and presented it to the public. After the ground-breaking ceremony in November 2017, the building covering an area of 30,000 square meters is ready for occupation just one year later and has therefore been completed on schedule. It is set to provide a base for future research into the cultivation and processing of Russian dandelion as an alternative source of raw material to the rubber tree in the tropics. In case of positive test results, the tire manufacturer is planning to introduce the raw material into serial production within ten years, in order to obtain an increasing proportion of its natural rubber demand from the dandelion plant.
At the opening, Nikolai Setzer, member of the Executive Board of Continental AG and head of the Tire division, said, “We are proud to inaugurate this lighthouse project today. We are the first tire manufacturer in the world to invest such a significant amount in industrializing dandelion rubber. We see Russian dandelion as an important alternative and complement to conventional natural rubber from hevea brasiliensis to allow us to meet rising global demand in an environmentally compatible and reliable way.” The investment in the new research and test laboratory is also another technological milestone on the road to implementing the Vision 2025 that Continental has developed for its tire business. “As part of our Vision 2025 strategy, we have invested far more than €2 billion in production, research and development as well as in jobs and new products worldwide since 2011. Anklam in 2018 now features prominently in the series of unique projects in Europe, America, and Asia,” highlighted Setzer.
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SOURCE: Continental
