Can Mycelium Fungus replace Concrete & Plastic?

One promising solution to plastic pollution is mycelium or mushroom packaging. It is made of 2 ingredients: mushrooms and hemp. Mycelium is the underground network of very durable, thread-like filaments called hyphae. It is mixed with agricultural waste like wood chips, oat hulls, cotton burrs or hemp hurds.

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Chapters
0:00 Introduction
1:00 How its made
2:43 Products
4:32 Advantages
5:30 Disadvantages
6:19 Myths
7:12 Conclusion

One of the largest mushroom packaging manufacturers in the world is Ecovative Design, a New York based biotech company founded in 2006. They sent me these samples of their product. Their manufacturing process is pretty straight forward.

Their designers create a 3D CAD model of custom packaging
A CNC machine routes the design into MDF.
Plastic trays are thermoformed around the MDF pieces.
The tray is filled with their proprietary hemp hurd and mycelium blend.
It is allowed to grow for 4 days in a controlled environment with regulated temperatures, airflow, CO2 and humidity levels.
It is popped out of tray and allowed to continue growing for 2 more days to create a velvety layer of overgrowth
The packaging is then heat treated to dry out, kill spores and stop the growth process

This material can last for 30 years in dry, temperature controlled indoor environments. It is also 100% biodegradable and a nutrient for soils and plants. When broken down into 1 cubic centimeter pieces, it will compost in just 45 days. In the ocean, it will compost in 180 days.

In 2014, a 40 ft or 12 meter high tower was built in New York by The Living, an architectural design studio, Ecovative and Arup. 10,000 bricks made of mycelium and corn stalks were stacked to form 3 interwoven chimneys.

In 2019, a drum-shaped temporary pavilion was designed in the Netherlands. It was composed of a timber frame, actively growing mushroom wall panels and seating made of agricultural waste.

Biohm, a UK based startup, has developed a mycelium insulation panel that outperforms traditional insulation like rockwool and fiberglass in terms of thermal capacity, fire resistance and acoustic performance.

ADVANTAGES
Mushroom packaging and other mycelium based products are non-toxic and free of VOCs and formaldehydes. This product consumes a tenth of the energy of foam, and emits an eighth of the amount of greenhouse gases. It is Cradle to Cradle Gold certified. It is an excellent example of a sustainable, circular economy product. It is quite spongy so it can protect fragile materials just as well as petroleum-based foam. Ecovative claims that it is a cost, time and performance competitive solution to plastic packaging.

Mushroom Packaging is naturally hydrophobic or water resistant. Water droplets roll right off and do not soak through. This makes it an ideal material for packing cold items and ice packs that can melt. However, prolonged exposure to moisture and high humidity will lead to mold. Due to the inherent properties of mycelium, this material is a class A fire retardant and has a very low flame spread of 20.

DISADVANTAGES
It is not very strong. It has a compressive strength of just 18 psi so it cannot be used as a structural material. It also has a short lifespan of 20 to 30 years. It can’t be used as food storage containers, so it won’t replace styrofoam right now. Since it is such a new technology, the few companies that produce these have patented the production process which is a barrier to entry. The super low cost of plastic production is unfortunately a huge deterrent to the future of this technology. Plastic also offers a lot of advantages like long term water resistance and a long lifespan.

The plastic industry has been complacent for too long and has avoided setting up an extensive recycling network. I hope competition will force them to be more responsible.
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SOURCES:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umM21vFIc7Y
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_fUpP-hq3A
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R__xk0-z7lg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7FCkK44UcY
https://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/25/t-magazine/moma-young-architects-program.html
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#mycelium #mushroom #plasticpollution #plastic #livingbuilding

Видео Can Mycelium Fungus replace Concrete & Plastic? канала Belinda Carr