It's not every day you find kombucha playing a leading role in a potential industrial disruption. But here at 4YFN at the MWC we chatted with Laura Freixas about her PhD research project that uses a base of fermented hipster tea to “recycle” organic waste into filaments.
Once processed, these biodegradable yarns can be woven into fabrics. They can also be treated to have different properties, such as elasticity or water resistance. Freixas presented a selection of woven biofilament samples, offering an idea of an ecological alternative to materials such as cotton or plastic that are essentially being made.
Freixas carries out the project at the Higher Technical School of Design and Engineering of Barcelona within the framework of the Elisava Research equipment. Their goal is to market the biofilament, which they call Biocel. “The goal is to biomanufacture filaments from organic waste because we have seen several problems in the textile industry,” he said, highlighting the numerous challenges in the sector.
While several startups have made efforts to develop eco-friendly leathers in recent years, including mushroom-based biomaterials such as Bolt Threads, Mycel and MycoWorks, Freixas says less attention has been paid to designing more eco-friendly filaments for use in fabrics. . production, despite the textile industry's intensive use of chemicals, energy and water; major pollution and waste problems; and a continuing history of human rights violations related to poor working conditions.
Unlike conventional fabric production, the methods used to produce Biocel are not labor-intensive and do not require much energy or harsh chemicals, according to Freixas. “This filament is produced with low levels of thermal energy/electricity and without hazardous chemicals,” he told TechCrunch. “Then we obtain a biodegradable filament that we can functionalize, or give properties, to make it more elastic, rigid or hydrophobic and make a textile application.”
As with making kombucha, the raw material to produce the biofilament must have some sugars in it for the bacteria to work their fermentation magic. Which means that some agricultural waste will be more suitable, such as grape waste (from wine production) or grain left over from brewing, due to their relatively high sugar content.
“Between 15% and 50% (of agricultural products) become waste when they are processed. “We see an opportunity here,” he said, pointing to growing regulatory requirements in the European Union aimed at reducing carbon emissions and promoting circularity that are changing incentives. It could even lead to a situation where industrial producers pay recyclers to take away waste, he suggested.
“technology-wise, we are building our machine to automate and monitor production,” he said. “That is why we are building a digital platform to control production. And we also have a patent-pending method for tensioning the filaments.”
Future applications of biofilament could include weaving it into accessories such as shoes and bags for the fashion industry; manufacture biodegradable nets for product packaging; or textiles for furniture, according to Freixas.
Currently, he said biofilament is not ideal for use cases where the woven material would be in direct contact with people's skin, due to a relatively rough texture, but suggested further research could help refine the tailored finish. who continue to experiment with the application. different treatments.
“At this point, what we are looking for is a company that has a need, a real need, so that we can develop an application together and put it in the market so that we can validate it and then scale it,” he added.
