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#Post#: 654--------------------------------------------------
Fungi based products for insulation and building materials
DIR By: AGelbert
Date: January 3, 2014, 9:47 pm
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HTML http://ecofriend.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/ecovative_designtop_hlm8w_39424.jpg
Mushrooms are the new styrofoam
17 June 2013 by Richard Schiffman
Eben Bayer's company makes packaging from agricultural waste and
the mycelium of mushrooms – he says the next step is to make
building materials this way
How did you come to make packaging materials from mushrooms?
I grew up on a farm in Vermont and noticed the mycelium –
essentially the "roots" – of mushrooms clumping wood chips
together. Years later, at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, I
was working to develop a better insulation material. I
remembered mushrooms' bonding ability and began to think about
industrial applications. After making a few samples, I teamed up
with Gavin McIntyre and our professor Burt Swersey to figure out
how this could work as a product.
Can your products be made cheaply enough to compete with
Styrofoam?
Yes. In general, we are cost competitive with synthetic
packaging materials such as expanded polystyrene and
polyethylene. Plastics start with expensive, finite feedstocks
derived from oil or natural gas. We're starting with waste from
farms.
What advantages do these biomaterials have over conventional
materials?
For over a century, humans have been using petrochemicals to
make plastics. Eventually we will run out, and if we aren't
careful toxic waste will choke our oceans and landfills.
Biomaterials like ours are sustainable, non-polluting and need
little outside energy to make. They also dissolve back into the
earth at the end of their useful lives.
Can you create durable materials from fungi?
The strength of our products comes from the mycelium, which
consists of millions of tiny fibres. The fibres bond with chitin
– a natural plastic produced by mushrooms, similar to what crab
shells are made of. Together, these act like a glue fusing
agricultural waste such as seed husks into solid forms. Our
materials basically self-assemble; the organism is doing most of
the work.
You have also developed building materials. Have any been used
in construction yet?
The first experimental use is happening in our warehouse – we're
growing a miniature house from mushrooms! Eventually, we expect
our products to replace materials such as the plastic foams used
in insulation and acoustic tiles.
You are able to bind your materials to wood without chemical
glues. How does that work?
The mycelium naturally bonds to wood, so we can use it to bind
thin veneers and other materials without formaldehyde-based
glues. We're also hoping to use the mycelium as an adhesive in
composites like fibreboard and particle board.
Have your products attracted much interest?
We're now working with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration to produce materials for buoys. We also supply
packaging to a number of Fortune 500 companies, and this summer
we're collaborating with the company Sealed Air to build a
manufacturing plant in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
What is the biggest challenge to more widespread use of your
technology?
Our key challenge at the moment is a wonderful one: scaling up
to meet the growing demand. ;D
This article appeared in print under the headline "One minute
with... Eben Bayer"
Profile
Eben Bayer is the co-founder of Ecovative, a company based in
Green Island, New York, that produces packaging materials from
agricultural waste and the mycelium of mushrooms
HTML http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21829210.300-mushrooms-are-the-new-styrofoam.html#.UseBe8KA3m4
#Post#: 4535--------------------------------------------------
Re: Fungi based products for insulation and building materials
DIR By: AGelbert
Date: February 18, 2016, 7:45 pm
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[move]Polluting NONbiodegradable Petroleum Based Plastics
REPLACED by Fungi! [/move]
[center]
HTML https://youtu.be/jnMXH5TqqG8[/center]
[center]This is just one more step in the elimination of fossil
fuels from human civilization. ;D [/center]
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