In Australia, startup Nanollose is using microbial cellulose from coconut waste to produce sustainable fabrics. Launched at Planet Textiles 2018 in Canada, the material is aimed at improving the environmental footprint of the high-polluting apparel industry. “Nanollose Technologies, which uses industrial organic and agricultural waste products to produce plant-free cellulose, does not involve the felling of trees or require the use of arable land or its associated use of irrigation, pesticides and other resource intensive inputs making it a sustainable product with potential for industrial scale manufacture,” the company tells TechXplore.com.
Nanollose chief executive Alfie Germano told Planet Textiles attendees that it uses fermentation to make its fabric. “We identified a source of cellulose raw material (coconuts) and made a fiber in a very quick time-frame. But there’s nothing like a deadline, and so to be in front of you all today, I’m very happy to say that not only do we now have a fiber, we’ve used industrial methods to spin this fiber into a yarn and produced the very first batch of fabrics to bring to this event,” he added.
Nanollose recently signed a memorandum of understanding with Indonesia’s PT Supra Natami Utama, a producer of coconut food, beverages, and cosmetics, for feedstock.