Transition towards environment-friendly consumer products by co-creation of an oxidoreductase foundry

OXIPRO will contribute to the transition towards greener detergents, textiles, cosmetics and nutraceuticals by co-creating and co-developing an efficient oxidoreductase foundry under an interdisciplinary and systemic innovation approach, integrating high-performance computing and cutting-edge biotechnology. Oxidoreductases offer promising, yet underexploited solutions for enhancing sustainability in consumer products. Oxidoreductases are able to replace strong toxic and harmful oxidizers, create novel functionalities in substrates, transform waste to valuable products, and improve quality, appearance and durability of consumer products. In OXIPRO, a collaborative ecosystem and RRI framework will be created to guide the development of novel environmental-friendly oxidoreductase-based solutions in an oxidoreductase foundry: 1) Hygienization in liquid detergents to sustain low energy washing processes. 2) Develop a circular cotton-textile biobleaching process for reduction of energy, water and chemical consumption. 3) Improve the sensory quality of fish protein hydrolysates to facilitate new sustainable value chains and improve by-product utilization for clinical nutrition. 4) Replace polluting ingredients with natural polymers for sunscreen products with additional skin health promoting effects. OXIPRO will develop novel generic technology platforms: enzyme intelligence (in silico bioprospecting and evolution, machine learning) and enzyme technologies (microfluidic reactors, co-factor dependences, bio-degradable immobilization), which will enable a faster time-to-market of the OXIPRO developments. These platforms can be replicated to other enzyme families and industrial sectors. Taken together, OXIPRO’s interdisciplinary approach will contribute to broadening the application of enzymes in greener consumer products and to the overall sustainability and competitiveness of the European bio-based economy.