Agri-Waste

Indian wheat straw has been successfully converted into lyocell fibre, yarn, and finished garments comparable to wood-based alternatives, in a proof-of-concept pilot led by Canopy and Laudes Foundation. The project has shown that agricultural residues can replace wood-based pulp in lyocell production, cutting forest pressure and reducing crop-burning pollution across northern India.

Cottonseed waste has been shown to yield biodiesel at volumes sufficient to power cotton cultivation itself, through a closed-loop system that recycles all byproducts. Biochar derived from defatted cottonseed serves as a high-performance catalyst, achieving an 83.5% biodiesel yield. Syngas produced during the process is converted into methanol and reused, creating a self-sustaining, fossil-fuel-free energy cycle.

Rice straw, an abundant agricultural waste product, has been shown to work as a natural dye that simultaneously colours and protects fabric. New research found that treating wool, silk and nylon 6 with a rice straw extract produced colour fastness alongside UV protection and antioxidant activity, with plasma pretreatment of fabrics beforehand shown to strengthen all three outcomes considerably.

An APEC report has assessed how agro-industrial waste can be converted into textile dyes, positioning agricultural residues as inputs for circular production systems. The study examined technological, industrial and policy pathways to reduce synthetic dye pollution, address performance constraints in natural colourants and strengthen traceable linkages between farming communities and textile manufacturers.

Researchers have completed a multi-kilogram-scale pilot facility that converts agricultural and forestry waste into textile-grade dissolving pulp. Using a patented co-solvent pulping process, the system delivers cleaner processing with lower energy use while avoiding toxic byproducts, opening pathways for distributed pulp production from materials that are currently burned, landfilled, or left to decay.

A new project is  being launched in Pakistan which will convert banana waste into textile fibres as well as produce synthetic gas that will benefit rural communities in the country.

Researchers at the Bangladesh University of Textiles, Dhaka, have found an alternative and sustainable source of cellulase enzymes from sugarcane bagasse waste to use in textile biopolishing applications.

Researchers have concluded that in terms of emerging conversion technologies, optimisation also of processes will be critical to the success or failure of alternative feedstock sources for textiles.

Pune-based deeptech startup KBCols Sciences dips into the rich biodiversity of India to tech-source microbes and cultures them in bioreactors to produce natural colours of choice, using agrowaste as feedstock. The final product—bio-colours free from microbes—are a universal drop-in-solution to dye fibres.

Quite famously known as the ‘Green City in the Sun’, Nairobi has a bunch of students from its leading university figuring out an “incredible alternative” on how to use agro-waste, specially from maize—the principal staple food of Kenya—and pineapple, connecting the farming community to fashion in a way that both people and the planet not only survive but thrive.