As the leather industry continues to grow, specifically from the fashion industry, pollution and toxins are released into the environment when raising the cattle and during the chrome tanning process. Faux leather, while marketed as a more environmentally friendly option to real leather, is actually made of plastic and does not biodegrade.

The goal of this engineering project is to create a bioleather out of a symbiotic growth of acetic acid bacteria and osmophilic yeast species in a zoogleal mat (SCOBY), and to coat it with poly-L-lysine and carnauba wax. SCOBY is formed during the fermentation of kombucha and is a gelatinous material. When cultivated and dried out, it feels like leather. The poly-L-lysine is a cationic polymer to help the anionic carnauba wax coat the leather; the carnauba wax is used to make the bioleather hydrophobic.

After treating the bioleather, three sample groups (untreated, carnauba wax, carnauba wax+poly-L-lysine) were subjected to 3 tests to see their hydrophobic properties. The water contact angle showed that the carnauba wax+poly-L-lysine was the most hydrophobic due to the large angle it made with the material. The carnauba wax fell second, and the least hydrophobic was the untreated. Using ANOVA testing, all the groups were statistically significant from each other. The moisture and saturation test showed that the treated options were statistically significant at not absorbing water compared to the untreated, however the two treated groups were not statistically different from each other.