Our Technology is alive
It relies on powerfull cell factories producing vibrant colors
How it works
We partner with microbes to create vibrant colors
Our technology is based on microbial enzymes, re-engineered to produce brilliant and effective dyes from renewable resources
Enzymes are powerful molecules, found in every living cell. These proteins catalyze the chemical reactions needed to sustain life and to create the huge variety of molecules found in nature, everything from food to perfume to pigments.
Enzymatic synthesis allows us to partner with microbes to create materials in sustainable ways, saving energy and reducing waste. Enzymes can do chemistry with remarkable precision, and without large inputs of energy or toxic reagents.
At PILI we are developing a completely new dye technology, designing enzymatic cascades that turn renewable carbon feedstocks, such as sugar, into textile dyes. Using the specificity and efficiency of enzymes, we can produce dyes for a wide variety of color hues and applications.
Building effective and clean biofactories
Once an effective enzyme cascade is designed, large-scale production can begin. We produce our dyes by integrating the genes for each enzyme into bacteria or other microorganisms, our cell factories.
These bacteria are grown in water-based bioreactors, using sugar as their main food source. This process requires no fossil fuels and no toxic inputs, and produces no harmful byproducts, making our bacterial biofactories both highly efficient and non-polluting.
We grow them with renewable nutrients
This biological process is not only efficient and sustainable, it is also scalable.
Microorganisms replicate the tools very efficiently as they reproduce. And they reproduce very fast : nearly every 20 minutes! At the end of a day, we have billions of microorganisms, each of them producing pigments...
New ideas are always brewing here
Our process is a little like making beer.
We use fermentation tanks and carefully tend the growth of our microbes but instead of creating a tasty beverage, we “brew” renewable, sustainable color.
Large-scale fermentation techniques have been used in the biopharmaceutical industry for decades, where microbes are used to produce insulin and other valuable medications. Using similar process design, our technology can be scaled up for high production, lowering costs without sacrificing quality.
At the end of the fermentation process, the final pigments are separated by simple filtration. Because pigment molecules are so small relative to the size of bacteria, this is a straightforward process that yields a pure final product
A Rainbow of Possibility
We are currently focused on textile applications.
Our goal is to radically change the textile industry, reducing its reliance on synthetic dyes as well as the huge amount of water pollution produced by dyeing facilities.
Our products are compatible with current dye infrastructure and processes, and offer a revolutionary step forward in the pursuit of truly sustainable fashion.
We are currently developing our initial product line and refining our process to work at industrial scale.