SBIR Phase I: Sustainable textile manufacturing through protein engineering

这个小型企业创新研究(SBIR)第一阶段项目的更广泛影响将展示将农业废弃物中的蛋白质转化为高性能、低成本和环保的棉花、丝绸和涤纶类纤维的前景。纺织生产对环境和废水产生了负面影响。在农业废弃物中发现的结构蛋白是天然丝绸、棉花和理论上的聚酯的替代品。拟议的项目将推动一种新的、坚韧、经济、环保的蛋白质基纺织纤维的发展。拟议中的纺织品将既可回收利用，又可生物降解。基于蛋白质的纤维将改变价值9810亿美元的全球纺织业，并使数十亿磅的农业废物能够得到新的利用。拟议中的项目将推进一项为合成纺织品开发保持蛋白质一级结构(主干化学)的技术。挑战是同时恢复蛋白质的二级和三级结构，负责在天然植物和动物来源的纤维中实现机械和美学特性的完美平衡。建议的工艺将蛋白质分子生物学与新颖的、生态无害的纤维形成工程相结合。先进的制造将用于在不产生有害副产品的情况下，在闭路过程中重新制造纤维，回收化学品和水。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will demonstrate the promise of transforming proteins found in agricultural waste into high-performance, cost-effective and environmentally friendly cotton, silk and polyester-like fibers. Textile production negatively impacts the environment and wastewater. Structural proteins found in agricultural waste are a substitute to natural silk, cotton, and theoretically polyester. The proposed project will advance a new, tough, cost-effective, environmentally friendly, protein-based textile fiber. The proposed textile will be both recyclable and biodegradable. Protein-based fibers will transform the $981 B global textile industry and enable new use of billions of pounds of agricultural waste. The proposed project will advance a technology to maintain protein primary structure (backbone chemistry) for synthetic textile development. The challenge is to simultaneously restore the protein secondary and tertiary structure responsible for the excellent balance of mechanical and aesthetic properties inherent in natural plant and animal sourced fibers. The proposed process integrates protein molecular biology with novel, ecologically sound fiber formation engineering. Advanced manufacturing will be used to recreate fibers in a closed-loop process recycling chemicals and water without harmful byproducts.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.