Collaborative projects
Development of enzyme-based coloration and coating for sustainable machine washable wool to support the wool Industry transition to a circular system
(Grant Ref: POC03-Jul21-Shen-09)
Funded by Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council and Networks in Industrial Biotechnology and Bioenergy (BBSCR NIBB) Phase II: BBNet POC (Proof of Concept)
Project time frame: 1st October 2021 to 30th September 2022
Wool fibres offer extensive natural benefits such as thermal insulation, breathability and biodegradability. However, wool currently only makes up 1% of global fibre production due to strong competition from cheaper synthetic fibres. With increasing demands for sustainable textile materials, closed-loop textile circularity, and a reduction of negative impacts caused by synthetic materials (microplastic) damage to the environment, enzyme-based biotechnology could provide an alternative solution to improve wool fibre performance, including felting shrink-resistance during washing process and limit the impact of wool processes on the environment by reducing water and energy consumption, and effluent discharge.
Enzyme-based biotechnology in the current project will be used to develop a one-step enzymatic process to achieve simultaneous anti-shrinkage and coloration of wool fibres. The project will explore the extraction and application of wool polypeptides from waste wool feedstocks/post-consumer waste wool through an environmentally friendly method. Extracted wool polypeptides will be grafted back on to the surface of wool fibres to achieve machine washable wool by enzyme-catalysed polymerisation process. The innovative biotechnology will be developed to achieve machine washable wool by in-situ enzyme-catalysed coloration and grafting with polypeptides without the use of synthetic dyestuff or harmful chemicals. All the bioprocesses to be developed will be undertaken at low temperature, resulting in saving of energy and reduction of waste effluent. The process developed would enable the machine washable wool to remain recyclable due to no harmful chemical additives being used in the processing and no added-on synthetic polymer, contributing to a sustainable and closed-loop circular textile economy.
The project is led by Professor Jinsong Shen (PI) from De Montfort University and Dr Chetna Prajapati (Co-I) from Loughborough University, and supported by industry partners: British Wool, Fox Brothers & Co Ltd, and The Woolmark Company.
ENZBIOTEX: Approaches of enzyme-based biotechnology to achieve textiles recovery and reuse for circularity
(Grant Ref: BB/X011623/1)
Funded by Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC)
Project time frame: 1st February 2023 to 31st January 2025
Global consumption of textiles continues to increase year on year. This rapid growth of textile consumption demands greater use of resources and enormous amounts of energy and water for producing virgin materials and processing into textiles. This results in the depletion of natural non-renewable resources and contributes significantly to carbon emissions, which is unsustainable. Currently, only a small amount of textiles are reused or recycled, while millions of tonnes of textiles, including a large proportion of blended textiles (made from more than one different fibre type) end up in landfills or are incinerated.
The textile industry is currently working towards transitioning to a circular economy that moves away from the current linear system of take-make-use-dispose. Although, prolonged use and reuse is considered more beneficial than upcycling and recycling, the latter could help reduce the industries negative environmental impact as it could reduce virgin textile fibre production and avoid intense processing within the supply chain. Research is urgently needed to develop technologies for upcycling, recycling, and reuse of waste textiles to achieve textile circularity.
The proposed project is designed to challenge current problems related to the recovery, recycling, and reuse of textiles, to keep valuable resources in-use as long as possible. Advances in biotechnology offers opportunities for the exploration of enzyme-based processing to recover and recycle textile fibres from blended fabrics. The aim of the project is to develop enzyme-based biotechnologies to recover valuable resources from wool blended fabrics, specifically wool/synthetic and wool/bast fibre blends, for recycling and reuse to support textile sectors transition towards circularity. The project will focus on utilising biotechnology to re-manufacture post-consumer and post-industrial textile waste for new applications by using the enzymes protease and transglutaminase to create new surface pattern on fabrics with textural effects and or repair damaged wool fibres for fabric reuse, respectively. Novel enzyme-based biotechnologies will also be developed to separate bast (flax, hemp and nettle), synthetic (nylon, polyester), and wool fibres, from blended fabrics for upcycling bast fibres into cottonised fibres, and recycling synthetic fibres back into fibres. Extracted valuable wool protein polypeptides will be utilised to develop novel added value machine washable wool.
This multidisciplinary research project between De Montfort University and Loughborough University brings together three UK based industry partners with a global reach: a contract upholstery fabric manufacturer, a wool cloth manufacturer, and a wool textile manufacturing and innovation company to ensure project outputs are of direct relevance to various sectors of the industry and enable alignment to sustainable circular development to deliver economic and environment impact when scaled up, widely contributing to realising the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The project is led by Professor Jinsong Shen (PI) from De Montfort University and Dr Chetna Prajapati (Co-I) from Loughborough University, and supported by industry partners: Camira Fabrics Ltd, Fox Brothers & Co Ltd, The Woolmark Company.