School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore.
School of Architecture, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Karlsruhe, Germany.
PLoS One. 2021 Nov 30;16(11):e0260170. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0260170. eCollection 2021.
The transition from a linear to a circular economy is urgently needed to mitigate environmental impacts and loss of biodiversity. Among the many potential solutions, the development of entirely natural-based materials derived from waste is promising. One such material is mycelium-bound composites obtained from the growth of fungi onto solid lignocellulosic substrates, which find applications such as insulating foams, textiles, packaging, etc. During growth, the fungus degrades and digests the substrate to create a web-like stiff network called mycelium. The development of the mycelium is influenced by several factors, including the substrate composition. As food waste accounts for nearly 44% of total municipal solid waste, incorporating food in the substrate composition could be a means to increase the nutrients absorbed by the fungus. In this paper, we study the effects of the addition of food supplements on the growth of two fungal species, Ganoderma lucidum and Pleurotus ostreatus. The substrates, the food supplements, and the mycelia are characterized using Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and optical microscopy. Our results show that addition of barley as a supplement significantly boosts the growth of G. lucidum and P. ostreatus. Using a common food as a nutritious enrichment for the development of mycelium is a simple and straightforward strategy to create waste-based mycelium-bound biocomposites for a large range of applications, on-site, therefore promoting a circular economy.
从线性经济向循环经济的转变迫切需要减轻环境影响和生物多样性的丧失。在许多潜在的解决方案中，开发完全基于天然的废物衍生材料具有广阔的前景。其中一种材料是真菌在固体木质纤维素基质上生长得到的菌丝体结合复合材料，可用于制造绝缘泡沫、纺织品、包装等。在生长过程中，真菌会降解和消化基质，形成一种称为菌丝体的网状硬网络。菌丝体的生长受多种因素的影响，包括基质的组成。由于食物垃圾占城市固体废物总量的近 44%，因此在基质组成中加入食物可能是增加真菌吸收营养的一种手段。在本文中，我们研究了添加食物补充剂对两种真菌（灵芝和糙皮侧耳）生长的影响。使用傅里叶变换红外光谱、扫描电子显微镜和光学显微镜对基质、食物补充剂和菌丝体进行了表征。我们的结果表明，添加大麦作为补充剂可以显著促进灵芝和糙皮侧耳的生长。使用常见的食物作为营养丰富的物质来开发菌丝体是一种简单而直接的策略，可以就地创建基于废物的菌丝体结合生物复合材料，用于广泛的应用，从而促进循环经济。
