When someone talks about bimbli, all that most of us can imagine of is a sour and a tangy fruit which is scientifically known as Averrhoa bilimbi. But did you know that it can be used for coagulating rubber? Two teenagers from Karnataka tried it and it worked. Aman KA and AU Nachiketha Kumar used bimbli extract and made eco-friendly rubber out of it for which they have been conferred with Google’s National Geographic Explorer Award.

The Bimbli Extract Made the Process of Coagulating Faster

The duo took out the juice of the fruit and added 60 ml of it to a one-liter rubber latex tray. After doing so, they noticed that the process of coagulating rubber latex got faster. If formic acid is used, it will take around 16 hours for the process to get completed wherein bimbli fruit extract just took 6 hours as reported by PTI.

The Bimbli Juice Eliminated the Chemicals

The residual solution which remains in the tray after coagulating the rubber with formic acid gets disposed into the soil most of the times which is not good for agriculture. But it's not the same when Bimbli is used. While talking about it with PTI, Nachiketha said: “Bimbli also eliminates the use of any of these chemicals like para-nitrophenol (used to give color to the sheets) and forms a natural coagulant. The same process that requires 100 ml of formic acid can be executed with merely 60 ml of non-toxic bimbli extract. Hence bringing down the cost.”

Wow, what a great idea to make an eco-friendly rubber. The two boys have done something phenomenal at such an early age and we wish them all the luck for their future endeavors.