Bio-producing Bacterial Cellulose for Textiles: History
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Contributor:
Roberta Morrow
,
Miriam Ribul
,
Heather Eastmond
,
Alexandra Lanot
,
Sharon Baurley

The aim of this research was to grow the bio-material, namely bacterial cellulose directly into a filament. This was achieved using a method of co-designing with the characteristics of biological materials. By growing the material directly into filaments, production such as wet spinning are made redundant, thus reducing textile manufacturing steps.

  • circularity
  • bacterial cellulose
  • co-design
  • bio-manufacturing
  • biomaterials
  • bio-design

1. Introduction

The textile industry is one of the main carbon polluters and generators of waste. In order to reduce carbon emissions and align with the 2050 UN/EU goals, the textile industry must change from linear to circular models [1]. For this reason, there is a demand for circular materials and manufacturing innovations. Within a circular model, the stages of material choice, manufacturing, use and disposal have direct influence on each other across social, environmental and economic sustainability [2]. Although there can be points of intervention at all these stages, this entry focuses on the raw material and production stages.
The European Union has stated that waste should be regarded as a resource to transition material consumption from linear to circular modals; this is specifically with a view to reducing the reliance on non-renewables as raw materials [1][3]. In response to this, designers, scientists and textile engineers have looked to biology to utilise waste as a feedstock for bio-manufacturing materials. Bacteria, fungi and algae are at the forefront of bio-manufacturing investigation, either as separate materials or as multi-organism composites [4]. The abundance of natural characteristics, including self-formation, make these materials unique and desirable as potential self-forming textile structures [4][5]. The understanding of these characteristics has in turn generated theories of co-designing with the living materials to directly produce textiles [5][6]. Although co-design is an approach found in human-centred approaches, the field of leading and learning with biology has created new opportunities in which co-design can be applied to both biological and human design interactions.
Bacterial cellulose is one of the main materials being investigated within the biomaterial field due to its unique characteristics such as its ability to self-assemble, its high mechanical strength and how it can be produced from accessible food sources or waste [7]. Most investigations of bacterial cellulose intended for apparel application produce the materials as a biological nonwoven sheet [7]. Research into producing BC into filaments is so far investigated through a process called wet spinning to create man-made cellulose fibres (MMCFs) [8]. Although this is an established and scalable way of producing filaments from cellulose, it requires the cellulose to first self-assemble then to be broken down to a dope and reshaped into a filament [8]. This adds a manufacturing step that may not be needed if the material can form itself, which further changes the inherent characteristics of the material. There is a gap in research regarding approaches of co-designing with bacterial cellulose characteristics in order to directly bio-manufacture bacterial cellulose with textile properties.

2. Circularity and Waste

In order to reduce the reliance on non-renewable resources, waste has been highlighted as an important circular feedstock for textiles and apparel [9][10][11]. Regenerating biomass waste into new materials is an area of research being investigated through biological interactions. Microorganisms such as bacteria and fungi can use waste as a form of feedstock to grow pliable materials investigated in areas such as architecture and material innovations [5][7][12]. Because these materials are biologically derived, they seldom use landmass in their production creating a circular raw material that has been derived from waste [11][12]. However, in order to manufacture these biomaterials into usable textile apparel, new creative manufacturing is required. Biologically derived cellulose has been proven to be produced from multiple different feedstocks including waste materials such as agricultural and food waste [13][14]. In contrast to other forms of cellulosic raw materials such as cotton, bacterial cellulose does not use landmass in its growth [13][15]. This makes bacterial cellulose an interesting material with circular potential. Although this entry investigates bacterial cellulose derived from glucose within the methodology, the methods are directly transferable to bio-waste-derived bacterial cellulose, such as crop residues and the organic fraction of municipal waste. It is the latter that is investigated by the co-authors of this entry within the BBSRC Bio-manufacturing Textiles from Waste project.

3. Bio-Producing Textiles

Several themes of bioproduction for textiles have been explored through the interdisciplinary interaction of design, science and textile manufacturing knowledge. Examples of innovative bio-manufacturing and design will be discussed, in particular the impact of co-creating with biomaterial characteristics.
Camere; Karana (2018), discuss theories of designing with materials and how the practices of working with materials can implement cleaner production systems [6]. Although the theoretical analysis of working with biomaterial is captured as a growing design method, the process works with the properties of the material, suggesting processes are co-designed. Without directly categorising works as co-design, the following examples sit within the intersection of design biology and technology.
Collet’s ‘bio lace’ (2012) is an example of leading with a conceptualisation of a design future, with synthetic biology emerging as a form of bio-production [16]. Situated in 2050, the themes of co-designing with living materials are captured, showing a future where bio products/waste (in this case the roots of edible plants) are grown directly into lace [16]. Bio lace captures the theory of designing with biology and provides a futuristic manufacturing concept that utilises waste as a resource. Translating this concept into physical garments is the work of Zena Holloway (2022) [17]. Holloway captures the themes discussed in bio-lace through physical interruption of biological systems. The material is not yet wearable but shows the themes of design and biology interlacing.
The trajectory of designing with living materials has expanded across multiple fields of interest. Alima, Snookand and McCormack (2022) work primarily with mycelium, furthering the concepts of co-creations and merging the boundaries of technology and biological material [18]. Their work discusses robotics and biology to create Bio-scaffolds, co-created through two seemingly opposing processes. Similarly, within architectural biomaterials, Scott et al. (2021) push the boundaries of digital knitted textile form and use it as a scaffold for biomaterial growth, designing with the self-formation of biomaterials [4][5]. This piece of research shows the inherent ability of knitted structure and scale, which arguably shows that the interactions of textile manufacturing has accelerated the scale of production of biomaterials. Rich in hybrid knowledge, the research of Alima, Snook and McCormack (2022), and Scott et al. (2021) is based in material architecture application. It shows how manufacturing of biological systems for material design can be intertwined with modern technologies.
A hybrid process is also clear in Modern Synthesis’s interaction of biological matter, textile manufacturing and design knowledge [19]. The reinforced technical material is bio-manufactured from bacterial cellulose and a customisable woven technique, to create reinforced cellulose sheets. This material is distinct from other cellulose based textiles in being identified as a new class of nonwovens, further paving the way for new material definitions [19][20]. The design of the manufacturing has not only been directly influenced by the inherent characteristics of bacterial cellulose, but also structurally informed by textile engineering technologies [19][20]. The success in this case of the hybrid input of design, biological science and textile manufacturing suggests the importance of combined knowledge for the future of bio-manufacturing routes for textiles.
The commonality across these innovations is twofold. Firstly, the success of interdisciplinary collaborations and knowledge shows the necessity for designers and scientists to directly interact. Proving this theory, Ribul et al. (2021) discuss the material-driven textile design (MDTD [21]) methodology. This method demonstrates how the interaction between designers and scientists produces innovative circular material design outcomes informed by the properties of materials in scientific development. Although this method does not explore living material characteristics, the importance of recognising design within a lab space is captured. Secondly, there is a common theme of using scaffolds in the co-creation with biomaterials and textile technologies to provide a platform for the material to be manufactured in a sustainable way. The designers draw on the inherent qualities of the material to co-design a manufacturing process which directly embeds the biomaterial characteristics. Working with the characteristics of a biological material points to the requirement of a method to co-design with the biomaterial characteristics.
By utilising biomaterials’ characteristics of self-assembly, the energy of manufacturing steps is reduced, thus cutting out parts of the value chain [9]. The process of co-designing with the characteristics of a material provides an opportunity to cut down on conventional manufacturing steps for different material industries. Although bacterial cellulose designs have so far been focused on sheet forms embodying nonwovens structures, there is little or no investigation into how the concepts of co-design and bio-manufacturing can directly form filaments. This leaves a wealth of material applications unexplored.

4. Bacterial Cellulose

Bacterial cellulose (BC) was the primary material under investigation in this research.
Bacterial cellulose was first discovered by Brown in (1886), and by the 1990s, 100–150 tons were being produced per year [22][23]. Since then, bacterial cellulose production has increased due to the demand from industries: biomedical materials, packaging, cosmetic products and more recently textile applications [23][24][25]. Although the demand is increasing, bacterial cellulose can be grown from waste or food sources reducing the reliance on raw materials [13][14].
Bacterial cellulose is the purest form of cellulose found within nature and is produced during fermentation by specific bacteria [26][27]. During the fermentation, which requires access to oxygen, sugar and nutrients, the bacteria secretes cellulose in the form of fibrils and ribbons [26][27]. These ribbons tangle together forming a pellicle at the interface of the liquid and oxygen [26]. It is this three-dimensional nanostructure that provides BC with its unique mechanical properties [25][26][27]. The entangled fibres form a mat-like material, mimicking a biologically formed nonwoven sheet of material. This unique physical strength changes depending on its wet or dry states as the structure changes through interaction with liquids [28]. Interestingly, air-dried pure BC has the texture of paper.
There are different fermentation methods for growing bacterial cellulose such as static and shaken fermentations. For static fermentation, the liquid media is incubated in shallow trays, and the cellulose grows as an intertwined mat of cellulose microfibres at the surface [29]. Shaken fermentations are carried out in conical flasks incubated in a shaking incubator and produce spherical beads of various sizes depending on the conditions [27][29]. This is evidence of how changing the physicality of the fermentation can have a large impact on how the material grows.
Chemically, bacterial cellulose is the same as plant-based cellulose; however, the crystallinity of the material is higher [30]. Bacterial cellulose has none of the impurities that plant-based cellulose has, such as hemicellulose or lignin and pectin. The microfibrils within bacterial cellulose have a cross sectional area of around 50 nm, giving BC a higher tensile strength than steel. These fibrils form long entangled matrices held together through interaction at the nanometre scale. This contrasts with cellulosic materials such as cotton textiles, where the material strength arises from interactions of whole cellulosic plant cell walls with radii of greater than 50 µm; hence, the material cannot be produced as a textile in the same way.
By understanding the biological characteristics of this growth, bio-production opportunities can be explored. If the growth of the material is a core factor in the production, such as growing the material directly to product, manufacturing steps could be reduced. The more steps in the manufacturing that are removed, the higher the sustainable prospects.

5. Waste-Produced Bacterial Cellulose

Agricultural waste is a source of interest for alternative material production and has been reviewed as a viable feedstock for bacterial cellulose [13][14][31]. By using waste streams as a raw material input, the creation of new textiles focuses on utilising a material that is abundant. Enzymatic biology is used to convert cellulosic waste into sugars; this is then used within a fermentation process with bacteria [10][32]. This method of cellulose production has been proven at the lab scale and is being investigated as a recycling option for cellulosic waste streams [32]. BC has been produced by different forms of waste from sugarcane molasses, cashew tree residues and potato peel wastes, among others, utilising the nitrogen within the material [13][14][33][34]. Although these forms of waste may not be abundant sources, they show that BC can be produced from multiple feedstocks. There must be a shift from the use of non-renewable materials to utilising materials that are already within the system. This entry investigates bacterial cellulose derived from glucose within the methodology. This was chosen as the production itself was being investigated, and not the waste source. Nevertheless, the methods discussed within this entry are directly transferable to bio-waste-derived bacterial cellulose.

6. Bio-producing Bacterial Cellulose for Textiles

 Recent investigations into BC as a material have focused on the material as a nonwoven self-assembling bio-structure. In particular, growing BC directly into shapes has been of interest in terms of designability. From an apparel perspective, this characteristic can be used to reduce waste and manufacturing steps such as garment cutting [35]. As discussed in the bio-manufacturing section above, self-assembly of BC has also been investigated by Modern Synthesis, who integrated weaving technologies with bacterial cellulose growth to create a new class of material [19][20]. These investigations are all centred on bacterial cellulose production as a sheet or nonwoven, leaving a gap, namely the investigation of how bacterial cellulose could be formed into other textile structures with alternative characteristics.
There is evidence that bacterial cellulose can be extruded into filaments for yarns through wet spinning [8][36]. By applying bacterial cellulose to filaments, the material is opened to a different type of textile production including knitted form. However, by wet spinning bacterial cellulose, the material is grown, then solubilised, then regenerated, adding potentially unnecessary manufacturing steps. This highlights a further gap requiring investigation: how co-designing with the biological characteristic of bacterial cellulose can produce filaments.

This entry is adapted from the peer-reviewed paper 10.3390/ma16144893

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