Kombucha and biobased leather
Kombucha fermentation delivers more than a drink. This project converts a waste stream into a biobased, leather-like material and connects sustainable food production with circular material innovation.
Motivation
Kombucha drink is a fermented tea and offers a healthy alternative to sugary drinks. During the fermentation process, the microorganisms form a biofilm consisting of bacterial cellulose on top of the liquid. At Kombucha brewers, this biofilm is created as a residual flow that has not been used to date.
Purpose of the project
BIOMA Lab has developed a process to prepare the biofilm in a material that is water-repellent and odorless. By combining and optimizing both production processes, a more profitable and sustainable process can be set up for brewing Kombucha together with a biobased leather product from a residual flow from the Dutch food industry. The biobased leather has a lower environmental impact compared to traditional leather.
Through MinION-based RNAseq preliminary insights have been gained into the culture’s functionalities to produce bacterial cellulose under different conditions and their impact on biomaterial production.
Our partners
Consortium partners (next to HAN)
- BIOMA Lab
- Untamed Kombucha
Biobased Innovations
To prevent our beautiful planet from turning into a vast barren wasteland, the raw material transition is an absolute necessity. In the Biobased Innovations research group, together with partners and students, we are working hard on the further development of key technologies that support this necessary transition.
