<p>It was an incredible journey, and we thank all members and colleagues who helped develop this project. We are super grateful to receive a gold medal.</p>
<p>A crucial visit in the development of our project was when we met Dr. Hernane Barud, a specialist in bacterial cellulose (BC) production. Dr. Barud and his team works with the innovative process of producing BC using orange residues, developed with the multinational company JBT.</p>
<p>A crucial visit in the development of our project was when we met Dr. Hernane Barud, a specialist in bacterial cellulose (BC) production. Dr. Barud and his team works with the innovative process of producing BC using agroindustrial residues, developed with the multinational company JBT.</p>
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<p>Considering that Brazil is the world’s major producer of orange juice, we can reduce these residue disposal environmental impact and can grow a bacteria that produces cellulose for medical applications.</p>
<p>Considering that Brazil generates over 290 million tons of agroindustrial waste per year, we can reduce these residue disposal environmental impact and can grow a bacteria that produces cellulose for medical applications.</p>
<p>While running the tests with styrofoam and enzyme hunting our hope in the project slowly began to fade as we found out that the idea was unfeasible. Unfortunately, there were far too many barriers to overcome in order to complete this idea, but we still had the work with D-limonene as a sustainable solvent in hand and most importantly we still had the idea to work with sustainable technologies in mind. So in the middle of our tests, we decided to change our unfeasible styrofoam approach and went back to the drawing board to see what else we could do to make the world a better place.</p>
<p>Searching for new ways to use synthetic Biology and our previously gathered knowledge about the environmental situation in Brazil was no easy task, but we stumbled across the data about Brazilian agricultural waste generation. We realized that there was a way we could still work with waste management by developing a new application for residues in the synbio Industry.</p>
<p>That’s when it hit us that we could use such residues to make our means of culture for the CHASSI bacteria, Komagataeibacter rhaeticus, therefore recycling it and making it useful for bacterial cellulose production, and with that, the Cellulopolis project was born.</p>
<p>That’s when it hit us that we could use such residues to make our means of culture for the CHASSI bacteria, <i>Komagataeibacter rhaeticus</i>, therefore recycling it and making it useful for bacterial cellulose production, and with that, the Cellulopolis project was born.</p>
<h1>A WORLD OF POSSIBILITIES: MAKING BACTERIAL CELLULOSE IS SUSTAINABLE.</h1>
