Zusammenfassung Chapter 1 Fungi in renewable material production 1 Introduction 2 Fungi 2.1 Ascomycota and fungal composite production 2.2 Basidiomycota and fungal composite production 2.3 Fungal strategies of wood decay 2.4 Mycelial growth and variation in cell wall structure 2.5 Mycelium composite materials 2.6 Conventional and bio-based insulation material 2.7 Cost-efficient production for commercial launch of bio-composites 2.8 Aim of this thesis 3 References Chapter 2 Preselection of potential fungi for insulation-board production by literature 1 Abstract 2 Introduction 2.1 Physical properties of hyphae and mycelium of concern for use in insulation material 2.2 Growth behavior of fungal mycelium 3 References 4 Appendices Chapter 3 Mycelium as a binder for biodegradable insulation material 1 Abstract 2 Introduction 3 Materials and Methods 3.1 Materials 3.2 Fungal stock cultures and general cultivation conditions 3.3 Growth increase measurements and density evaluation 3.4 Optimal C-source, light and darkness, growth temperature and pH determination 3.5 Hydrophobicity of mycelia and bio-composite products 3.6 Hyphal branching and morphology 3.7 Bio-composite production -small scale 3.8 Standard substrate mixture for bio-composites 3.9 Sterilization for standard substrate mixture for bio-composites 3.10 Termination of fungal growth after bio-composite production 3.11 Production of mycelium bio-composites in aluminum trays 3.12 Aeration test 3.13 Production of mycelium bio-composites in industrial scale containers 3.14 Sandwich bio-composites 3.15 Note 4 Results 4.1 Screening of best growing test species (performed together with M. Baumann) 4.2 Influence of pH to fungal growth rates (performed together with M. Baumann) 4.3 Influence of carbon source to fungal growth rates 4.4 Influence of dark and light to fungal growth rates 4.5 Mycelium growth pattern 4.6 Sterilizing process of substrates for bio-composite production (performed together with M. Baumann) 4.7 Bio-composite production -on small scale with different substrate mixtures (performed together with M. Baumann) 4.8 Screening substrate compositions in medium size scales for bio-composites (performed together with M. Baumann) 4.9 Production of bio-composite boards (performed together with M. Baumann) 4.10 Proof of principle -Upscaling to industrial scale (performed together with M. Baumann) 5 Discussion and Conclusion 5.1 Environmental factors influencing fungal growth 5.2 Ideal substrates and technical process management in bio-composite production 6 References 7 Appendices Chapter 4 Amylase activity in growth of Basidiomycetes on starch-rich lignocellulosic substrate