CO2 emissions destined for the atmosphere are diverted into the Rubi system
The Rubi system captures and converts CO2 into pure cellulose pulp using enzymes
Cellulose pulp is spun into fibers, yarn, and textile using same processes in industry.
We use enzymes, selected from all corners of the biosphere, stabilized together in an industrial reactor system to catalyze the synthesis of cellulose from CO2. We believe in using enzymes “cell-free”, as opposed to using cell-based biomanufacturing, because it allows for 100% of the feedstock CO2 to be converted to product instead of the millions of other wasted cellular products without excess energy required for keeping cells alive under precise conditions. Control over the design of our cell-free system also allows for improved flux through the pathway for even better efficiency.
Our process takes carbon on a tranformational journey, where a CO2 molecule is transformed through a cascade of biochemical reactions, one-by-one shaping and crafting the base molecule that is polymerized into long cellulose chains, which are filtered out easily on the other end of the reactor system, to be finished into textiles.
The materials in the system required for carbon capture are regenerated in our process, designed to be cyclical, rather than linear, production.
The material product from our process plugs directly into existing textile manufacturing processes: the cellulose pulp is dissolved into a thick liquid called dope, extruded through a showerhead-like fixture with tiny holes called a spinneret into solid fibers, then twisted into yarns and woven or knit into textiles.
Pure cellulosic textiles are inherently 100% biodegradable, similar to materials like paper, wood, and plants themselves. At the end of life, after many cycles of reuse and renewal in circular systems, Rubi textiles fully biodegrade and return to the carbon cycle.
Rubi scientists and engineers lead material production as well as pure R&D for continual improvement to our technology to better serve the Earth and earthlings. Scientists at Rubi lead research in our fully-equipped molecular biology lab and use cutting-edge computational and ML/AI methods in-house or in collaboration with supercomputing centers to drive innovation that they see immediately implemented in a physical product (soon to be) out in the world and a huge impact to climate change.
