The leftover yeast from brewing beer,
wine or even to make some pharmaceuticals can be repurposed to produce
high-performance fibers stronger than natural fibers with significantly less
environmental impact, according to a new study led by researchers at Penn
State. Credit: Penn State
A fermentation byproduct might help
to solve two major global challenges: world hunger and the environmental impact
of fast fashion. The leftover yeast from brewing beer, wine or even to make
some pharmaceuticals can be repurposed to produce high-performance fibers
stronger than natural fibers with significantly less environmental impact,
according to a new study led by researchers at Penn State and published in
the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The yeast biomass—composed of
proteins, fatty molecules called lipids and sugars—left over from alcohol
and pharmaceutical production is regarded as waste, but lead author Melik
Demirel, Pearce Professor of Engineering and Huck Chair in Biomimetic Materials
at Penn State, said his team realized they could repurpose the material to make
fibers using a previously developed process.
The researchers successfully
achieved pilot-scale production of the fiber—producing more than 1,000
pounds—in a factory in Germany, with continuous and batch production for more
than 100 hours per run of fiber spinning.
They also used data collected
during this production for a lifecycle assessment, which assessed the needs and
impact of the product from obtaining the raw fermentation byproduct through its
life to disposal and its cost, and to evaluate the economic viability of the
technology. The analysis predicted the cost, water use, production output, greenhouse gas emissions and more at every stage.
Ultimately, the researchers found
that the commercial-scale production of the fermentation-based fiber could
compete with wool and other fibers at scale but with considerably fewer
resources, including far less land—even when accounting for the land needed to
grow the crops used in the fermentation processes that eventually produce the
yeast biomass.
"Just as hunter-gatherers domesticated sheep for wool 11,000 years ago, we're domesticating
yeast for a fiber that could shift the agricultural lens to focus far more
resources to food crops," said Demirel, who is also affiliated with the Materials Research
Institute and the Institute of Energy and the Environment, both at Penn State.
"We successfully demonstrated
that this material can be made cheaply—for $6 or less per kilogram, which is
about 2.2 pounds, compared to wool's $10 to $12 per kilogram—with significantly
less water and land but improved performance compared to any other natural or
processed fibers, while also nearly eliminating greenhouse gas emissions. The
saved resources could be applied elsewhere, like repurposing land to grow food
crops."
Waste not, want not
Demirel's team has spent over a
decade developing a process to produce a fiber from proteins. Inspired by
nature, the fiber is durable and free of the chemicals other fibers can leave
in the environment for years.
"We can pull the proteins as
an aggregate—mimicking naturally occurring protein accumulations called
amyloids—from the yeast, dissolve the resulting pulp in a solution, and push
that through a device called a spinneret that uses tiny spigots to make
continuous fibers," Demirel said, explaining the fibers are then washed,
dried and spun into yarn that can then be woven into fabric for clothes.
He also noted that the fibers are
biodegradable, meaning they would break down after disposal, unlike the
millions of tons of polyester clothing discarded every year that pollutes the
planet.
"The key
is the solution used to dissolve the pulp. This solvent is the same one used to
produce Lyocell, the fiber derived from cellulose, or wood pulp. We can recover
99.6% of the solvent used to reuse it in future production cycles."
The idea of
using proteins to make fiber is not new, according to Demirel, who pointed to
Lanital as an example. The material was developed in the 1930s from milk
protein, but it fell out of fashion due to low strength with the advent of
polyester.
"The issue has always been performance and cost," Demirel said, noting the mid-20th century also saw the invention of fibers made from peanut proteins and from corn proteins before cheap and stronger polyester ultimately reigned.
Replacing conventional fabric fibers —
like cotton — with the novel material could free up land, water and other
resources to grow more food crops and reduce fast fashion waste, according to
the project's lead researcher Penn State Professor Melik Demirel. Credit: Penn
State
Freeing land from fiber to produce food
Beyond producing a quality fiber,
Demirel said, the study also indicated the fiber's potential on a commercial
scale. The models rolled their pilot-scale findings into simulated scenarios of
commercial production. For comparison, about 55,000 pounds of cotton are
produced globally every year and just 2.2 pounds—about what it takes to make
one T-shirt and one pair of jeans—requires up to 2,642 gallons of water. Raw
cotton is relatively cheap, Demirel said, but the environmental cost is
staggering.
"Cotton crops also use about
88 million acres, of farmable land around the world—just under 40% of that is
in India, which ranks as 'serious' on the Global Hunger Index," Demirel
said.
"Imagine if instead of growing
cotton, that land, water, resources and energy could be used to produce crops
that could feed people. It's not quite as simple as that, but this analysis
demonstrated that biomanufactured fibers require significantly less land, water
and other resources to produce, so it's feasible to picture how shifting from
crop-based fibers could free up a significant amount of land for food
production."
In 2024, 733 million people—about
one in 12—around the world faced food insecurity, a continued trend that has
led the United Nations to declare a goal of Zero Hunger to eliminate this issue
by 2030. One potential solution may be to free land currently used to grow
fiber crops to produce more food crops, according to Demirel.
Current production methods not only
use significant resources, he said, but more than 66% of clothing produced
annually in the U.S. alone ends
up in landfills. Demirel's approach offers a solution for both problems, he said.
"By leveraging
biomanufacturing, we can produce sustainable, high-performance fibers that do
not compete with food crops for land, water or nutrients," Demirel said.
"Adopting biomanufacturing-based protein fibers would mark a significant advancement
towards a future where fiber needs are fulfilled without compromising the
planet's capacity to nourish its growing population. We can make significant
strides towards achieving the Zero Hunger goal, ensuring everyone can access
nutritious food while promoting sustainable development goals."
Future of fiber
Demirel said the team plans to
further investigate the viability of fermentation-based fibers at a commercial
scale.
The team includes Benjamin Allen,
chief technology officer, and Balijit Ghotra, Tandem Repeat Technologies, Inc.,
the spin-off company founded by Demirel and Allen based on this fiber
production approach. The work has a patent pending, and the Penn State Office
of Technology Transfer licensed the technology to Tandem Repeat Technologies.
Other co-authors include Birgit Kosan, Philipp Köhler, Marcus Krieg, Christoph
Kindler and Michael Sturm, all with the Thüringisches Institut für Textil- und
Kunststoff-Forschung (TITK) e. V. in Germany.
"In my lab at Penn State, we demonstrated we could physically make the fiber," Demirel said. "In this pilot production at the factory, together with Tandem and TITK, we demonstrated we could make the fiber a contender in the global fiber market. Sonachic, an online brand formed by Tandem Repeat, makes this a reality. Next, we will bring it to mass market."
Provided by Pennsylvania State
University
Source: Fermented fibers could tackle both world hunger and fashion waste
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