Textile waste valorization: development of a biotechnological platform for the sustainable upcycling into high-value compounds

The increasing demand and production of garments, largely fueled by the fast fashion industry, are no longer sustainable with the current availability of resources and conventional recycling strategies. This scenario highlights the urgent need for innovative approaches to employ and valorize textile waste. In this context, this thesis project aims to develop, test and optimize a biotechnological platform for the sustainable upcycling of polyethylene terephthalate (PET), cotton and mixed textile waste, combining optimized pre-treatments methods and enzymatic/whole-cell systems. Firstly, previously identified pre-treatments were optimized for both cotton and PET, resulting in enhanced enzymatic hydrolysis efficiency. The obtained depolymerization products, glucose and terephthalic acid (TPA) were used as carbon source for bacterial growth and as substrate for the bioconversion into high-value compounds, respectively. Finally, three different Escherichia coli strains were engineered for the production of enzymes from Comamonas sp. strain E6, Klebsiella pneumoniae subsp. pneumoniae and Fusobacterium nucleatum to successfully establish a synthetic pathway to convert TPA into high valuable and therapeutic compounds.