Performance Quantification/Enhancement Study: Microbial Colouration & Finishing for Textiles?

Even though colours make up 80% of the buying decision for consumers, more than 99% of the colourants employed in the textile industry still derive from fossil fuels, not to mention the hazardous chemicals, carcinogens & heavy metals involved in the industrial synthetic dyeing process.\r
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We know colours are important, so we would like to turn to microbes for help.\r
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By employing microorganisms that naturally produce colouring compounds like b-carotene, violacein, astaxanthin, etc., we can alleviate the environmental burden of the colour industry by reducing water consumption, fossil fuel reliance and effluent pollution. Microbial colours also have enormous advantages over natural plant-based pigments, e.g. rapid growth in low-cost medium, relatively easy to process, independent of weather conditions, and relatively low-maintenance and high efficiency.\r
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This project is a performance quantification study to enhance the technical properties of colours/finishes created from microbial colourants for textile-based applications. The current challenge is that microbial dyes are yet as high-performance as synthetic dyes. With the funding to access advanced quantification mechanisms and expert material testing academics & technicians, we plan to systematically measure, compare & optimise the existing formulae up to commercial standards and identify relevant marketable outcomes at the end of the project.