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Establishment of the Basidiomycete Fomes fomentarius for the Production of Composite Materials

Summary

This research explores using the tinder fungus (Fomes fomentarius) to create sustainable composite materials that could replace petroleum-based foams like Styrofoam. The fungus acts as a natural glue, binding agricultural waste materials like hemp and rapeseed straw into solid structures. The resulting materials show promising mechanical properties comparable to synthetic foams. Impacts on everyday life: – Could provide eco-friendly alternatives to petroleum-based packaging materials – Offers a way to repurpose agricultural waste into valuable products – Reduces dependency on non-renewable resources for construction and packaging materials – Provides biodegradable alternatives to synthetic materials – Creates new opportunities for sustainable manufacturing

Background

Filamentous fungi of the phylum Basidiomycota are considered attractive sources for biotechnological production of composite materials. Many basidiomycetes can accept residual lignocellulosic plant biomass from agriculture and forestry as substrates and bind these loose particles into their mycelial network, making them ideal candidates to produce biological composites that could replace petroleum-based synthetic plastics and foams.

Objective

To investigate the potential of the tinder fungus Fomes fomentarius for lab-scale production of mycelium composites using hemp shives and rapeseed straw as substrates, and to characterize how particle size affects material properties compared to synthetic expanded polystyrene (EPS).

Results

The composite materials showed elastic-plastic deformation behavior under compression. Materials made with smaller substrate particles performed better than those with larger particles. Rapeseed straw-based composites performed slightly better than hemp shive-based ones in medium and small size ranges. While EPS showed 4x higher elastic modulus, the fungal composites demonstrated comparable or better compression resistance at 50% strain (0.2-0.3 MPa vs 0.15 MPa for EPS).

Conclusion

F. fomentarius shows promise as a cell factory for producing fungal composite materials that could potentially replace synthetic foams like EPS. The material characteristics can be modulated through variations in cultivation conditions and substrate properties. Further optimization and testing of other important properties like thermal insulation, water resistance, and long-term stability is needed.
  • Published in:Fungal Biology and Biotechnology,
  • Study Type:Laboratory Research,
  • Source: 10.1186/s40694-022-00133-y
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