Why Kombucha?

Kombucha is a fermented tea made from black tea and sugar. While the tea is fermenting into kombucha, a layer of pellicle (bacterial cellulose) grows on the surface. As long as the kombucha is kept undisturbed at room temperature and there is no presences of harmful bacteria such as mold, the pellicle can grow well. The pellicle is made of many fine strands of bacteria cellulose all intertwined together. This layer of pellicle is of high interest because its crystallinity and tensile strength is much higher than plant cellulose, which is already strong. Because of this, there is a lot of potential for the use the bacteria cellulose as an alternative material to traditional natural and synthetic textiles and even plastics. In comparison to most of these traditional materials, bacterial cellulose is more biodegradable. It has a life-cycle that allows it to be broken down and reused by natural systems, so it can help reduce the amount of waste that is unable to be recycled back into the natural ecosystem.

For BacterFilter, cellulose made by the SCOBY (the colonies of bacteria and yeast that are associated with kombucha production) is of interest because of its ability to act as growth media in biofiltration. It requires a material that is able to act like a textile (which growth media like woodchips was unable to do) while still being an ideal home for the bacteria to grow on (unlike synthetic fabrics). In addition, kombucha bacterial cellulose has a relatively low impact growth process in comparison to other growth media options.

BacterFilter's fabric like panel is produced using citrus waste, allowing citrus that would otherwise be thrown away to be utilized. Citrus produced bacterial cellulose has also been shown to grow at a faster rate in comparison to tea produced bacterial cellulose and results in a more flexible material. Because the panels are biodegradable, BacterFilter has the potential to have a closed loop product life-cycle: the biodegraded panel can be used in the soil that's used to grow citrus, the waste of which is then used to produce more filters.