Kombucha and biobased leather

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.

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.

Consortium partners (next to HAN)

• BIOMA Lab
• Untamed Kombucha