Team:Edinburgh OG/Vision
Our Vision
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Remedye's vision is that textile facilities adopt in situ dye waste treatment plants for cleaning polluted water and recover valuable products as synthetic silk. Synthetic biology and biotechnology innovation have the potential to solve environmental challenges as the azo dye pollution. Our research has been combined with valuable industry experiences as visiting the Seafield Waste Water Treatment Plant in Edinburgh and engaging with industrial biotechnology experts as IBioIC. Taking inspiration from existing sludge treatment facilities, we start sketching flowcharts and diagrams of how we envision the next generation of dye waste treatment plants. Our first layout systems work as follows: The first phase attempts to stabilize the dye waste. Screening straining, oil removal, homogenization and neutralization of the waste are essential steps for the bioremediation process. The second phase intends that an E. coli strain producing azoreductase reduce the azo dyes into aromatic amines. The E. coli culture could be produced in adjacent anaerobic bioreactors to release specific dosages into the dye waste pool. Membrane filtration systems would be implemented to retain the biomass and allow the flow of dye waste carrying the aromatic amines. On this phase it is essential to estimate the amount of biomass required for treating the azo dyes. Further analysis requires to determine the concentration of dye in the effluents, and the yields of dye-degrading enzymes produced by the engineered E. coli strain. The use of our Heavy Metal biosensor could be useful to estimate the concentration of azo dyes in the effluents. The third phase consist in growing the E. coli strain producing synthetic silk (jM109-AN1 + MaSp1) and using aromatic amines as carbon source. Perfusion cultures (Upstream Continuous Process) could be employed in sets of bioreactors to maintain biomass production and dye waste utilization. The recovered biomass could be sold to third parties for the synthetic silk downstream and commercialization. To ensure complete aromatic amine degradation and clean water as an output, we anticipate the addition of biochar with immobilized laccase. It is fundamental to validate the production of synthetic silk proteins in the chassis E. coli JM109-AN1 developed by Zhang et al, which can use azo dye derivates as carbon source. The valuable product yields are critical for having an attractive business model. Finally, immobilized dye degrading enzymes as laccase in biochar are promising. Despite our research found increasing bioactivity, the purification and formulation of the product could result expensive. However, immobilized laccase can ensure the complete degradation of dangerous aromatic amines. Despite the many challenges to overcome in order to operate this bioremediation system at the industrial textile scales, we believe that innovative synthetic biology solutions as the one proposed here are essential for a clean and safe future. |
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