Development of a novel mycelium bio-composite material to substitute for polystyrene in packaging applications

Current state and future prospects of pure mycelium materials

“…Mycelium products have a major advantage with respect to their synthetic counterparts in single use applications in terms of carbon footprint and sustainability. When mycelium materials, encompassing both CMM and PMM, are not treated for long term preservation or not combined with non-biodegradable elements, they are a great solution for short carbon turnover and recyclability [ 19 ]. Additionally, mycelium materials were shown to have flame-retardant properties and are less likely to combust as compared to petrochemical-derived plastics [ 19 – 21 ].…”

“…When mycelium materials, encompassing both CMM and PMM, are not treated for long term preservation or not combined with non-biodegradable elements, they are a great solution for short carbon turnover and recyclability [ 19 ]. Additionally, mycelium materials were shown to have flame-retardant properties and are less likely to combust as compared to petrochemical-derived plastics [ 19 – 21 ]. Finally, the growth phase of mycelium materials is a relatively fast process that can be achieved in 5 to 14 days when using an efficient fermentation setup, depending on fungal species and fermentation conditions [ 14 , 22 , 23 ].…”

Living mycelium composites discern weights

“…Mycelium bound composites -masses of organic substrates colonised by fungi -are considered to be future environmentally sustainable growing biomaterials [1,2,3]. The fungal materials are used in acoustic insulation panels [4,5,6], thermal insulation wall cladding [7,8,9,10,11,12], packaging materials [13,14,15] and wearables [16,17,1,18,19].…”

Mycelium-Based Composites as Two-Phase Particulate Composites: Compressive Behaviour of Anisotropic Designs.

“…A variety of experimental designs are being used in the field of MBC research and engineering, as there is a current lack of unified approach to the material description. Few studies consider evaluation standards for MBC; among them, ASTM D3501 for wood-based structural panels in compression has been referenced 18 , a standard designed for plywood, wafer-board, orientated strand board, and composites of veneer and of wood-based layers, with use of 2:1 (D:h) cylindrical specimens in the study, instead of rectangular cross-section as the standard advises; ASTM D695 for rigid plastics was also referenced 19 , with a recommended 1:2 (D:h) ratio for cylindrical samples, but used with a diameter of 100mm and thickness of 23mm in the study; ASTM C67 destined to brick and structural clay tile was referenced in a comparative study against clay bricks 20 , but without following the standard recommendations; and ASTM D2166-13 for cohesive soil was referenced 21 , but deviating from the standard in the study. In requiring the largest particle to be smaller than one tenth of the specimen diameter, the latter ASTM exemplifies the instrumental role these standards can play in systematically investigating materials based on previous studies.…”