Chemical dyes wield a major however typically missed impression on India’s surroundings. Within the bustling textile trade, the place colors flourish, the widespread use of chemical dyes presents a multifaceted menace to the surroundings.
These dyes, laden with heavy metals and poisonous compounds, discover their means into water our bodies, soil, and air, polluting essential pure assets. They not solely pollute nature but in addition have an effect on the meals chain in water our bodies.
As per a analysis paper by Science Direct, “The textile dyes additionally act as poisonous, mutagenic and carcinogenic brokers, persist as environmental pollution and cross whole meals chains offering biomagnification, such that organisms at increased trophic ranges present increased ranges of contamination in comparison with their prey.”
Options equivalent to utilizing flowers to make colors and textile dyes have been gaining recognition, however they arrive with a set of challenges together with availability, possibilities of fading and price.
“There may be additionally a difficulty of color consistency. The textile trade wants the color to be of the identical consistency on each material which turns into troublesome with flower-derived colors,” says Vaishali Kulkarni of KBCols Sciences.
KBCols is a science firm that makes pure dyes. Co-founded by Vaishali Kulkarni and her husband Arjun Singh, the corporate has discovered a means of creating pure dyes from waste through the use of microbes!
How does the science behind this work? The founders clarify the intricacies in an interview with The Higher India.
‘This was future’
Born and raised in Mumbai, Maharashtra, Vaishali informs she by no means deliberate that she would turn out to be an entrepreneur. “I’m a science individual however the flip of occasions led me into the color trade,” she says.
After finishing her postgraduate research, she determined to go for a PhD from a university in Mumbai.
“Throughout my PhD research, initiatives typically got here to our school regarding the therapy of colored water within the textile division. Researchers have been tasked with addressing this subject by using varied unit operations to purify the water. It turned evident that prevention was higher than treatment,” she ponders.
This gave me an thought about how she may make pure dyes as a substitute of making an attempt to purify the contaminated water.
It was throughout this time that she met Arjun, who had an analogous thought.
“We aimed to deal with the foundation trigger somewhat than take care of the results. This led us to the realisation that as a substitute of managing the discharge of dangerous colors into the water after their use in textiles and different industries, it will be extra prudent to develop safer alternate options. This concept sparked our curiosity, and we started engaged on it diligently,” she informs.
As soon as the PhD was full, she determined to try to safe a grant from the federal government.
“We utilized for a grant, and it was awarded to KBCols to conduct proof-of-concept (POC) research. As per the grant necessities, we needed to choose an incubator centre if we didn’t have entry to a lab or any particular subjects in thoughts,” she recollects.
“The closest one to Mumbai was in Pune, the place the Enterprise Middle supplied this facility. Consequently, we have been incubated there, and our journey started in earnest in 2018,” she provides.
The corporate was based by the duo the identical yr, and so they have been working ever since to make natural colors from waste.
“Everyone knows that colors are ubiquitous, present in practically each trade, together with textiles, meals, and cosmetics. We regularly affiliate particular colors with sure merchandise, just like the expectation that apples ought to be crimson. Consequently, colors performs a major function in our day-to-day actions,” says Vaishali.
With about 80 p.c of the industries on the planet utilizing chemical dyes, they’re affecting our petroleum assets too.
“These dyes are primarily derived from petroleum assets, that are finite. Subsequently, it’s inevitable that in the future, these petroleum assets will turn out to be exhausted. An efficient various was the necessity of the hour,” she says.
In as we speak’s market, choices within the type of vegetable and flower colors can be found, however they lack sustainability.
“They require huge quantities of land for cultivation. As an example, rising particular crops or flowers necessitates in depth land assets and is commonly topic to seasonal differences, taking months to mature,” she says.
Utilizing microbes to make colors
One of many main challenges confronted by the trade with these flower and vegetable colors is their lack of reproducibility. Their colors fluctuate, making it troublesome to realize consistency. This inconsistency prevents their widespread adoption on an industrial scale.
“To handle this subject, the duo determined to make use of micro-organisms. Our colors are pure bio-colours, providing a dependable and sustainable answer to the challenges posed by conventional vegetable and flower colors,” she states.
The uncooked supplies to make these colors are derived from waste.
“Microorganisms possess inherent properties that allow them to provide colors, as reported within the literature. Nonetheless, regardless of this information, nobody in India has ventured into industrial or business manufacturing utilizing this technique,” she says.
Recognising this untapped potential, the duo determined to discover this space and supply pure color choices.
“Our method entails utilising a mix of plant or vegetable colors. These colors might be cultivated inside a vertical reactor, permitting for environment friendly manufacturing inside a batch time of 16 to 24 hours,” she says.
She continues, “Remarkably, this course of doesn’t depend on petroleum assets or excessive temperatures for cultivation. As an alternative, we utilise agricultural waste, together with sugars and salts, to domesticate the microorganisms inside the reactor.”
Speaking concerning the analysis and growth course of, she talks concerning the limitations that include utilizing microbes.
“Microorganisms have a tendency to provide color when subjected to emphasize. Subsequently, we should acquire samples from varied environments the place microorganisms are naturally uncovered to stressors. To isolate the pigmented microorganisms from the multitude of micro organism and microorganisms entails amassing soil samples and screening water and air samples from numerous places. Remarkably, even a tiny quantity of soil, only one milligram, can yield hundreds of microbes,” she says.
She provides, “Whereas this analysis and growth section is time-consuming, as soon as now we have efficiently remoted a microbe with a desired color, it turns into a beneficial proprietary asset of the corporate.”
How did it translate out there?
Isolating microbes being a time-consuming course of is what has delayed the couple from launching their merchandise out there.
“We beforehand collaborated with a designer based mostly in Pune, to launch a small assortment. This assortment was showcased on the Lakme Vogue Week 2022 in Delhi, the place fashions wore clothes dyed with our colors. Whereas this served as a mushy launch, our official business launch is scheduled for both the top of this yr or the subsequent,” she informs.
Speaking about how their colors are aggressive with the artificial colors out there, Vaishali explains, “In textiles, the efficiency parameters are based mostly on three elements: color fastness to gentle, washing, and rubbing. Color fastness to gentle refers back to the cloth’s means to withstand fading when uncovered to daylight. Washing fastness assesses how properly the color holds up when subjected to harsh detergents. Rubbing fastness measures the color stability of the material underneath friction.”
For every parameter, industrial requirements sometimes vary from 1 to five, with a better worth indicating higher efficiency.
“Chemical colors typically rating an ideal 5, whereas our pure colors sometimes obtain a ranking of three to 4 for gentle fastness and 5 for laundry fastness which is an appropriate trade customary,” she says.
Sharing her future plans, Vaishali informs that the duo is targeted on launching the product as quickly as doable.
“At present, we’re additionally within the means of developing our demonstration plant in Pune, with an estimated capability of round 500 kg per 30 days. This growth goals to extend our manufacturing capability. Moreover, we plan to diversify into the cosmetics and meals sectors, along with textiles,” she shares.
Wish to know extra about their ingenious know-how? Go to their web site to know extra.
(Edited by Padmashree Pande)