Mycelium-Composite Materials-A Promising Alternative to Plastics?

• Published in: Journal of fungi (Basel) Vol. 9; no. 2; p. 210
• Main Authors: Balaeș, Tiberius, Radu, Bianca-Mihaela, Tănase, Cătălin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 06-02-2023; MDPI
• Subjects: Abortiporus biennis; Biodegradability; Biodegradable materials; Composite materials; Dietary fiber; fungal cultures; Fungi; Lignocellulose; Mechanical properties; Microscopy; Mycelia; mycelial composites; Plastic debris; Plastics industry; Raw materials; Germany; fungal cultures; mycelial composites; biodegradable materials; Abortiporus biennis
• ISSN: 2309-608X; 2309-608X
• DOI: 10.3390/jof9020210

Plastic waste inefficiently recycled poses a major environmental concern attracting attention from both civil society and decision makers. Counteracting the phenomenon is an important challenge today. New possibilities are being explored to find alternatives to plastics, and one of them refers to mycelium-composite materials (MCM). Our study aimed at investigating the possibility of using wood and litter inhabiting basidiomycetes, an underexplored group of fungi that grow fast and create strong mycelial mats, to produce biodegradable materials with valuable properties, using cheap by-products as a substrate for growth. Seventy-five strains have been tested for their ability to grow on low-nutrient media and to form compact mycelial mats. Eight strains were selected further for evaluation on several raw substrates for producing in vitro myco-composites. The physico-mechanical properties of these materials, such as firmness, elasticity and impermeability, were analyzed.
RECOSOL73 was selected to obtain, at the laboratory scale, a real biodegradable product. Our results suggest that the strain used is a promising candidate with real possibilities for scalability. Finally, corroborating our results with scientific available data, discussions are being made over the feasibility of such technology, cost-effectiveness, scalability, availability of raw materials and, not least, where future studies should be directed to.