Team:QHFZ/Implementation

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Implementation

In this section we explore how our project would make a difference in the real world. According to expertise and other industrial personnel we interviewed, our project is meaningful in the dyeing industry. Traditionally, dyeing industry impose heavy environmental pressure and contribute to a considerable amount of global carbon emission. Our new conceptual approach of dyeing using synthetic biology technique may play a evolutional role for the industry.

    Natural dye is of great importance in our daily life. Traditionally, dye and colourants are produced through organic synthesis approaches, and leverage tremendous pressure on the environment. Also, chemical dyes may contain toxic ingredient such as heavy mental and other allergenic sources, and have potential health risk for customers. On the other hand, natural dyes, predominantly dyes extracted from plant receive a lot of attentions in recent years due to its environmentally-friendly nature. However, plant based dyes also have limitations. The complicated extraction and purification process greatly increased their cost. And the stability and fastness are also low compare to chemical dyes.
    We proposed a new approach to address the problem, using synthetic biology approaches for synthesis of novel dyes. This new type of dye is produced by microbe fermentation. Compared with traditional way of organic synthesis, fermentation adapts a milder and greener way. Also the overall cost is lower than plant based dyes. In the future, microbial dye may have a potential to substitute chemical and plant dye.
    We have approached several local business feature sustainable fashion. we approached a local fashion business in Chengdu, Sichuan province, China. This business runs an organic farm for silkworn and produce organic silk. Although they run their business in a sustainable way, however, they outsource their dyeing process and they still use chemical dyes. We are now in collaboration with them to dye their product. 
    In the future we hope we can commercially our microbial dye, and supply for clothing textile printing. There are still a lot of barriers between our prototype to a real world business. First, we must find a way of mass production. Also we need to reduce the cost of the dye.