motivation

Algae has immense potential as a bio-feedstock to replace crude oil for manmade textiles: it grows quickly and can take in carbon dioxide more efficiently compared to other bio-feedstocks based on land-crops. Further, its cultivation uses less/un-farmable land and avoids pesticides. Using algae as a renewable resource for producing biopolymers and textiles circumvents the challenges of competing with low fuel prices by creating higher-value applications. In this way, the German textile industry can act as a catalyst to shift away from fossil-fuels – towards a bioeconomy where algae are a major source of biomass.

results

1. Algae-derived free fatty acids were successfully converted into high-quality, textile-grade polyamide with a molecular weight comparable to commercial biobased Polyamide 6.9 (Fig. 1).
2. The algae-based Polyamide 6.9 yarns meet adidas’s mechanical property standards.
3. A footwear demonstrator using algae-based polyamide was produced and tested (Fig. 3).
4. Fatty acid accumulation in algae cultivation was enhanced via a three-stage photobioreactor process.
5. Multiple algae oil extraction methods were explored, but none achieved sufficient purity for Polyamide 6.9 production by Uni Bayreuth.
6. A modular stack photobioreactor system was designed and prototyped to reduce costs, increase productivity, and enable scalable installations (Fig. 4).
7. Initial thermo-mechanical recycling trials showed stable polymer molecular weight across five cycles (Fig. 2).
8. Lab-scale Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Techno-Economic Evaluation (TEE) identified key areas for efficiency and yield improvements in future scale-up efforts.