Plant Based Natural Indigo Dye
The Brief Story
Archroma Pakistan Ltd. collaborated with Mehran University of Engineering and Technology in 2016 for making the natural indigo dye from the indigenous indigofera tinctoria plant to be utilized particularly in Pakistan’s denim manufacturing industry. Later in 2017, the collaborative project was financially supported by HEC Pakistan under the TDF program after rounds of peer reviews and defense presentation at the HQ of HEC Pakistan. Engr. Dr. Awais Khatri was leading the project as a Principal Investigator, Engr. Dr. Shamshad Ali was co-leading as Co-Principal Investigator, Dr. Arshad Mehmood was the industry partner from Archroma, and Engr. Farah Ishaque and Engr. Noman Junejo were appointed as Research Assistants. The TDF project was successfully completed in 2020.
During the initial developmental phase of the project in 2018, the project team won the 3rd prize at All Pakistan DICE Textile Innovation Award, due to the innovative and commercially viable technology development. During the development, confidentiality disclosure agreement was signed with Archroma. After successful development of a swift technology of making natural indigo dye from the plants that is suitable for denim manufacturing industry, the technology was transferred to Archroma Pakistan Ltd. in 2019.
The team in collaboration with WWF-Pakistan mobilized local farmers, agriculturists and industry stakeholders during this project and have been successful to bringing the related stakeholders collaborate for commercialization in the country. The project has a regional impact on social well-being of the local farmers and leads to improve environmental sustainability of the dye and the denim manufacturing sectors. The project has created skilled personnel and two postgraduate theses. This project became a fine example of quadruple helix model of collaboration (Mehran University – Archroma – HEC Pakistan – WWF-Pakistan) for a highly value added products in Pakistan.
At Glance
04 November 2016 – First meeting for collaboration at HQ of Archroma Pakistan Ltd. in Karachi
21 November 2016 – Start of natural indigo dye project (enrolled two groups of students for B.E. final year projects)
March 2017 – Plantation at Archroma Jamshoro production site on a 4 acres land
14 June 2017 – TDF awarded by HEC Pakistan in Islamabad
25 October 2017 – Casual meeting with CEO and Sr. Project Officer of WWF about natural indigo at BCI 2017 Regional Members Meeting in Lahore
02 November 2017 – Presentation and project video display at Awareness Seminar for TDF program of HEC Pakistan at Karachi University
02 February 2018 – Induction of two dedicated M.E. students as Research Assistants
07 March 2018 – Winning 3rd Prize at National DICE Textile Innovation Competition at NTU Faisalabad
April 2018 – Indigo plantation at Mehran University Jamshoro for experimentation
25-29 June 2018 – Focused Training of Research Assistants at Archroma HQ Karachi
01 August 2018 – Visit of the team to Hala (Latif Ajrak Center) and Sanghar site (Indigo plantation and extraction) with WWF delegates
26 September 2018 – Focused visit of Mehran University team at Archroma Jamshoro production site
18 January 2019 – Reproduction of results at Archroma in consultation with
Engr. Noman Junejo
08 February 2019 – Meeting with WWF team at WWF Karachi office
04 April 2019 – Focused visit of the team at Soorty Enterprises - Denim Mill (Green Factory) in Nooriabad and meeting with
Mr. Shoaib A. Rehman (The COO)
24 April 2019 – Meeting of World Bank Mission and WWF with stakeholders including Mehran University and Archroma for IECLP project
12 May 2019 – Joint meeting of Mehran University, Archroma and WWF stakeholders
20 JUNE 2019 – VISIT TO KEENJHAR SITE FOR INDIGO PLANTATION AND EXTRACTION WITH WWF AND ARCHROMA
1-2 August 2019 – REPLICATION OF MEHRAN UNIVERSITY NATURAL INDIGO EXTRACTION METHOD AT ARCHROMA JAMSHORO
