Bio-based Indigo Agricultural Supply Chain Development

The market for natural colorants is growing. Trends in food, cosmetics, and textiles show consumers are concerned over the use of synthetic, petroleum-derived dyes and seek a more environmentally friendly option. However, manufacturers cannot compromise on quality, stability, or functionality of colorants in their products. Stony Creek Colors has recently proven its ability to grow indigo at scale in the Southeast U.S. partnering with local small and medium sized farmers as well as to process this crop into natural indigo dye which has been tested in the textile industry, representing the first time in over 100 years that natural indigo has been used commercially in a U.S. denim mill. Nearly all denim produced today is dyed will synthetic indigo dye, which is synthesized from harmful petroleum byproducts and toxic chemicals such as benzene, formaldehyde, and cyanide. By replacing this synthetic dye with a bio-based product, not only are toxic reagents and waste products removed for the supply chain, but small and medium sized farmers are able to generate sustainable revenues and keep agricultural land in agriculture.This project seeks to further progress made by Stony Creek Colors in the commercialization of natural indigo dye. The company will work under this project to improve the scalability of its planting and harvesting methods including mechanization and treatments which have previously not been applied to indigo as a crop. The company will also refine its factory unit operations processes to increase the purity and throughput of its factory in order to provide high purity consistent dye product at an industrial scale. Success in these research areas will lead to the ability to scale the agricultural and chemical processing aspects of the business to include significantly more farms and reach a higher factory efficiency. This will ultimately allow natural indigo dye to become more technically and economically competitive with synthetic indigo dye.