Conagen starts first commercial production of sustainable purple dye

Conagen, based in Bedford, Massachusetts, has successfully scaled up the manufacture of its Tyrian purple, a historically sought-after and pricey dye that can only be found in small quantities in marine nature.

The first and only biotechnology firm in the world, Conagen, is commercializing a fermentation-based sustainable Tyrian purple. When utilized as an alternative to the petrochemically produced dyes currently employed in the textile industry, this colorfast molecule minimizes pollution and carbon footprint much like any other textile dye derived from biological sources.

Tyrian, also known as Phoenician purple, royal purple, imperial purple, or imperial dye, was created by the Phoenicians from Tyre on the Levantine coast during the bronze age so that the ancient Greeks, Persians, Byzantines, and Romans could clothe their emperors and monarchs in fine fabrics. For its treasured deep, rich purple, tyrian purple used to be worth more than its weight in gold. In the Roman Empire, the cost of one pound of Tyrian purple dye was equivalent to three Troy pounds of gold, or about $66,000 in modern money.

Much like the ancient Phoenicians, modern producers extract and gather Tyrian purple from the murex shellfish. It is impractical, costly, and harmful to the environment to create one gram of the color because it takes about 10,000 of these carnivorous sea snails (54 kilos). Ancient dye manufacturers nearly wiped out the murex species around the coastlines of Phoenicia, as evidenced by the massive shell deposits discovered during excavations near Tyre, Sidon, and other Mediterranean cities.

Casey Lippmeier, senior vice president of innovation at Conagen, said that the company is democratizing the exclusive use of a color that was long reserved for royalty and is now available on a worldwide scale. They can provide products that are true to nature thanks to their fermentation and bioconversion technology. They’re releasing Tyrian purple’s enormous potential as a widely available and environmentally friendly dye by utilizing their bioengineering and commercial manufacturing capabilities.

The Tyrian purple technology is built on two of Conagen’s numerous important bioengineering platforms, allowing for quicker product development timelines for its rival phenolics, terpenoids, proteins, and peptide compounds.