motivation

Colors make food, textiles, everyday goods, and our built environment colorful. However, most of the established colors are produced on a petrochemical basis, many of which are toxic, such as azo dyes. Both the production, dying process, and the use of petrochemical colors pose health risks to humans. Furthermore, synthetic dyes and pigments are often released into the environment with industrial wastewater, where they cause massive damage to ecosystems. We thus want to explore fungi as a natural source of diverse colors and want to produce colors through fungal fermentation on renewable plant-based raw materials. This organic origin and biotechnological production will pave the way for ecologically sustainable color and pigment production of the future.