BioTexCycle

Project team: Leonidas Matsakas (Project leader), Omprakash Sarkar
Duration: 2025-2027
Funded by: J. Gust. Richert stiftelse

About the project:

The world’s growing appetite for textiles has created a massive surge in post-consumer mixed textile waste (MTW), much of which still ends up in landfills or incinerators—contributing to pollution, biodiversity loss, and climate change. Recycling solutions exist, but the complex mix of natural and synthetic fibers makes conventional methods energy-intensive, chemically hazardous, and difficult to integrate into a true circular economy.

This project takes a different path by exploring microbial conversion as a sustainable alternative for turning textile waste into bio-based platform chemicals. MTW is rich in organic content, yet synthetic fibers such as polyester and nylon often block its bioconversion potential. To overcome this, we use a mild ethanol-water depolymerization process that efficiently separates cotton and polyester while recovering high-purity polyester monomers for reuse. This approach also enhances the compatibility of nylon with microbial processing, opening new possibilities for textile valorization.

The research then focuses on transforming textile-derived substrates into short-chain carboxylic acids (SCCAs) and medium-chain carboxylic acids (MCCAs)—industrially important compounds currently dependent on fossil resources. By studying microbial community dynamics and optimizing metabolic pathways, we aim to maximize the efficiency of this novel conversion process.

Through the integration of sustainable depolymerization and advanced microbial valorization, the project unlocks the hidden potential of textile waste as a renewable feedstock. In doing so, it not only reduces environmental impact but also drives the transition toward bio-based, circular industries that give textiles a truly sustainable future.