Surface Engineering and Pigment Tailoring for Sustainable Dyeing of Cellulosic Materials

Despite efforts to improve the existing processes, textile industry is still considered a major pollutant due to the origin of dyes uses, number of polluting chemicals employed in textile dyeing and use of energy and water. Proposed project tackles challenges cellulose textile dyeing by exploiting the power of enzymes to design sustainable pre-treatment of cellulose fabrics, and by using plant-based flavonoid pigments as a new generation of purely nature-inspired dyes. Cellulose fibres are not only of huge importance for textile industry, but also in biohacking and bioplastic industry, although their processing still involves extensive chemical treatment which often leads to decreased quality and shorter shelf life.We propose use of enzymes to afford purely biological pre-treatment of fibres, which will improve dyeing and longevity of not only virgin but also recycled cellulose materials. Such enzymes together with gycosylated flavonoid (containing sugar within their structure) will be delivered within all-in-one bioengineered systems developed in Colorifx for industrial dyeing. To monitor pigment binding and the quality of industrial process, we will develop optical fibre based spectroscopic system of advanced analysis, which is adaptable to industrial scale. Use of engineered biology tools significantly decreases the usage of water, while use of flavonoids removes the need for synthetic dyes, which pose a significant burden in terms of resource and energy usage, and water and soil pollution. Proposed project aims not only to change the way cellulosic materials are treated and dyed, but will also provide a training platform for researchers to prepare them to take on the leadership roles in R&D and industry, that will result in faster and more efficient transition of global textile manufacturing towards more sustainable, greener processes.