Mycelium Composites? Hands-on Grow-IY – soak it up

In this post:

I see that a lot of people who want to try Mycelium Composites, often have no idea where to start.

Have you decided to find a way to turn your business/production toward something sustainable….? Are you at the very beginning? Is this the first thought even before any business disruption?

Like this “Ask WasteRush” that I received:

On Fri, Jun 14, 2019 at 5:29 PM WordPress <[email protected]> wrote:
I am from india. I wish to know more about mycellium mushroom packaging product. 
 My  email.  [email protected]
Request you to send some detail for the same.
Thanks
Deepak Gawde

On Sat, Jun 15, 2019 at 9:07 AM 0.waste <[email protected]> wrote:
Dear Mr. Deepak Gawde,
Glad to hear from you.  
I need to ask you a couple of questions:
1. Sir, are you already in the packaging business?
2. If yes, on what level?  Do you produce some kind of packaging, or buy it for resale?

At this point in time the best place to get information about this kind of packaging is Ecovative Design.  I would like to assist you to approach them, if you need more information or help in doing so.  However, they have a website specifically for their packaging business and are the most advanced in this field https://mushroompackaging.com/  They produce the packaging and they can license their technology to you to set up your own factory. 

Best Regards,
Lesley Woodfin
Just another concerned citizen of planet Earth
https://wasterush.info/

On Sat, Jun 15, 2019 at 1:39 PM deepak gawde <[email protected]> wrote:
Dear Sir .
We are in the business of industrial packaging products.  We design and develope new products from Plastic crates and pp. Boxes as per our clients requirement.
As on.now India is too facing problems of plastic byproducts.  Indian industry is also searching for some biodegradble product for them.
I am interested in.mycelium products if it works for packaging segmemt. And be a pioneer in.India…
I will appreciate if you give the email address of the concerned companies to clarify my queries in detail.
Thanks and way for your reply
Deepak Gawde

On Sun, Jun 16, 2019 at 7:43 AM deepak gawde <[email protected]> wrote:
Dear Lesley .
Good Day””
Thanks for sending me the link.
There is lot of scope in India for packaging industry if this product works out .
Right now we are using PU foam and EPE foam for packaging industry. and HDPE sheet for parititon of crates .
Is there any supplier in india  please let me know.
Thanks
Deepak Gawde

On Sunday, 16 June 2019, 0.waste <[email protected]> wrote:
Dear Mr. Gawde,
I do not believe there is a mycellium packaging supplier in India at this time.

Samples?
As to samples, I do not believe that Ecovative offers free samples at this time. In fact, if you live outside the USA you can no longer order items made with the  MycoComposite™   material on their website. I suggest that you look at my supplier list at the end of the post. You may be able to buy the material itself from a Ecovative licensee somewhere in the world. If you noticed on one of my myceliium posts, https://wasterush.info/grow-yourself/  They give you good directions as to how to Grow-It-Yourself; here:  https://grow.bio/collections/shop

Free Gift of Thanks
In fact, Mr. Gawde, you may have noticed on my website, that it is very young and that I keep offering people or businesses, from anywhere, to help them search for the information that they need.   I think I might start a campaign in another couple of months to try to get more people to contact me with such requests. If the subject of the request would be a useful post and they allow me to mention them in the post on my website (INFORMATION/COPY IN COMPLETE AGREEMENT BETWEEN ME AND THE REQUESTER) I would like to offer a “gift of thanks”.  If you agree to this, I would be glad to order a bag of Grow-It-Yourself Material 
 https://grow.bio/collections/shop/products/grow-it-yourself-material (not availabe as of March 2020)  for you to try out the process, a gift – free-of-charge – based on my interest to publish a post on the subject and and the requester’s willingness to allow me to mention their request and their name.

Looking forward to hearing from you about the Free Gift of Thanks …… let us keep the dialog going, in any case.
Best Regards,
Lesley Woodfin
Just another concerned citizen of planet Earth – https://wasterush.info/

At Deepack’s request, I did send him a bag of Grow-It-Yourself Material. 
He tried out the process.

On Tue, Sep 24, 2019 at 7:08 AM deepak gawde <[email protected]> wrote:
Have a good day
It’s a wonderful product. It would be very helpful for environment pollution. 
I have tried it and was very near to the required quality. 
But unfortunately I had consumed all the mycellium
Regarding this only facing the problem was that 
1) it catches fungus even after heating it in the oven
2) not able to machine / and give a finishing look. 

May be it would help some other person who intends to work with me. 
Thanks 
Deepak Gawde

On Tue, Sep 24, 2019 at 7:54 AM 0.waste <[email protected]> wrote:

Dear Mr. Gawde,
It is great to hear from you and get your reaction to the mycelium composite material! I believe that if you can work with a mycologist, he/she could help you with the fungus problem….  Maybe the end result needs to be coated.  I do not know.
As to machining/sanding….I believe you can….it is only a matter of finding the right way to do it.  Maybe there is some information in the link about the Mycelium Bike in this post that could help.  https://wasterush.info/mycelium-rd-project-grow-it-yourself/ You can see a number of pictures of how he worked on his prototype     He probably writes about it too.
In any case, I am sure if you talked to either https://mycl.bio/ in Indonesia or consult my supplier list below, you can find answers to take care of those 2 issues.

Wishing you all the best,
Lesley 
Just another concerned citizen of planet Earth
https://wasterush.info/

If you are interested in trying to work with mycelium…………
Below is information about Hands-on……
How-to make Mycelium Composites.

from about 2014 to the present.

The basic process is like making bread. 

(Yeast is a single–cell fungus)

1. Something Agricultural/vegetable is seeded with mycelium (like mixing yeast into flour).
2. After a short period of incubation/cultivation, the mixture is in little pieces and is used to fill some kind of mold/shape.
3. The mycelium grows a few days until it has covered and surrounded the vegetable particles. 
4. In a last step, the shape is pulled from the mold and heat dried to stop the mycelium from growing any further.

The Fastest Way

These are new production processes. 1 or 2 companies (that I know of) have begun to supply their products to the general public.

1. You can buy a bag of Mycelium material from Grow.bio / Ecovative LLC or one of their license partners in Europe. (See suppliers at the bottom.) And try it out…
2. You can contact Mycotech in Indonesia about doing a short internship with them in their working facilities and learn how it all works.

Today, these are the 2 fastest ways to test this idea to see if it suits your style of working and your needs. From a prepared Mycelium formula that can be activated and made into something fast and easily.

There are a number of GIY videos about “how to”, including from Ecovative.  

But if you want to get a little more involved you might try MycoWorks‘ way…….

Phil Ross’s Mycoworks website has a page of reference materials, that are worth your review….some interesting things there.

Mycoworks is hiring ! https://www.facebook.com/MycoWorks
https://www.linkedin.com/company/mycoworks/

Reports online from people who have done it.

NO DOUBT this is not all that can be found on the web…… but here are a number of different people who have documented their Tests and Trials and give you their how-to and results.

Growing Objects With Mushroom Mycelium

Much to my surprise, the process isn’t complicated at all—I was intimidated by the strange live material at first, but I quickly realized how friendly it can be. All the mushroom material needs to start its new life as a planter are flour, water and patience (about a week of patience, to be exact).

Growing materials at home: Hard Mycelium Materials Manual

We wrote this manual to share our knowledge on mushroom materials and it is based on our experience and own experiments. We hope you build on this knowledge and share it as well.

Materials research

We are starting The Fungus Among Us, a 7 week course at ITP.
One of my goals is to build a materials library to test various properties of the Fungus.
New York University – ITP is a two-year graduate program located in the Tisch School of the Arts whose mission is to explore the imaginative use of communications technologies — Perhaps the best way to describe us is as a Center for the Recently Possible.

MYCOTECTURE – GROWING INTO FORM

Our objective is to design an architectural installation using Mycotecture (fungus made blocks) in Valldaura Self Sufficient Labs. Through this process we have grown the mycelium in order to study the substance and its properties.

Mycelium Material Study

Studio MurMur, Chicago Our aim is to explore mushroom mycelium as a potential composite material for construction and manufacturing applications. By inoculating a cellulose-rich waste material substrate (such as straw, sawdust, or grain hulls) with mushroom spawn, material can be “grown” and formed.

Making Mycelium

This “instructables” guides you to making a material that is open for experimentation, it is not an end product. Get creative, and share your results.

There are notated Mycelium R&D projects on this wasterush post.

It is really beginning ! Those with the knowhow are setting up courses to share their knowledge with other industries.

One of PermaFungi, Brussels‘ activities is raising awareness: through workshops, team building activities or very diverse presentations. The success of these activities and the growing demand for more specialized training has led us to develop various specific training courses.

Come follow a course with us and start your own project!
We use an open source philosophy . With more than 5 years of expertise, we want to share our knowledge and cultivation techniques with others to see new urban mushroom farms emerge worldwide.  Our training program is flexible and adapts to the objectives and wishes of the participants.

LONG TRAINING TO GROW OYSTER MUSHROOMS ON COFFEE GRIT
This course is for anyone who wants to know more about the fantastic world of mushrooms and how oyster mushrooms are grown on coffee grounds. You can find more information about the complete program and the cost price in our brochure in the Dutch language.

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Research Reports that consider the Properties of and various mushroom Strains used in mycelium composites

Laboratory Projects

Advanced Materials From Fungal Mycelium: Fabrication and Tuning of Physical Properties The possibility of tailoring mycelium materials’ properties by properly choosing their nutrient substrates paves the way for their use in various scale applications.

Mechanical behavior of mycelium-based particulate composites This work investigates the mechanical behavior of mycelium composites rein- forced with biodegradable agro-waste particles.

The production process and compressive strength of Mycelium-based materials This paper aims to provide an insight into the production methods of mycelium-based materials and an indication of the structural performance of such materials. The stress at 10% deformation of the best mycelium-composite was found to be between 24 and 93 kPa.

Waste‐derived low‐cost mycelium composite construction materials with improved fire safety This study has found mycelium composites to be an economical, sus- tainable, and thermally safer alternative to petroleum‐derived and nat- ural gas‐derived synthetic construction materials.

MYCELIUM COMPOSITES: AN EMERGING GREEN BUILDING MATERIAL ‘Mushroom materials’ are a novel class of renewable biomaterial grown from fungal mycelium and low-value non-food Agricultural materials using a patented process developed by Ecovative LLC.

Fabrication factors influencing mechanical, moisture- and water-related properties of mycelium-based composites This study shows that their morphology, density, tensile and flexural strength, as well as their moisture- and water-uptake properties can be tuned by varying type of substrate (straw, sawdust, cotton), fungal species (Pleurotus ostreatus vs. Trametes multicolor) and processing technique (no pressing or cold or heat pressing).

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THE FIRST INTERNATIONAL WOODFUNGI CONFERENCE WAS A HUGE SUCCESS! Ghent, Belgium
“Wood Fungi like the Shiitake and King Oyster are undervalued in Europe and the US.
I see it as part of my mission to put them in the spotlight.”
Magda Verfaillie, Mycelia, Belgium

Fungi are alive everywhere that moisture is present. 

The map above is from May 27–31, 2015.  It shows the amount of moisture in the top 5 centimeters of the ground.  Dark green and blue areas are wetter and the lighter areas are drier.  It is possible to see that you can establish an Industrial Strength Mushroom facility in many parts of the world.

Open your own mycelium based bio-technology production company.

All of my Mycelium posts

Additional posts, about Mycelium in Industry:
….all of which starts here:
Mycelium in Industry – Ancient and New

Construction industry,
Packaging industry,
Textile industry,
Furniture industry
Mycelium R&D Projects
Mycelium in Fashion Marketing – One Approach
May 2019 Mycelium in Industry update: Construction, Packaging, Textile, Furniture, +
June 2019 Mycelium Composites? Hands-on – Do it yourself
October 2019 Mycotecture? more-Mycelium in Construction
March 2020 “Mycelium in Industry” Where else can you get information?
March 2020 Mycelium in Construction?…some tangible progress
October 2020 Mycelium Is IN Textile/Fashion – 2020
December 2020 MycoProteins – Mushrooms To Meat?
February 2021 Construction, Mycelium, Industry..Wait A Minute
September 2021 Mycelium Momentum; World Is Waking Up.
January 2022 Myco-Remediation – Decompose And Remedy
July 2023 Mycelium Packaging – How To Make It A Business In 2023

Myco-composite suppliers

Suppliers of Mycelium Composite Material, around the world:

>>>>Australia:
>Mr. Russell Whittam, www.aussimushroomsupplies.com.au,
I’ve done lots of work with universities the last few years; supplying them with substrate and how to make their own materiel, etc. as well.
I’ve got a new product coming out about mid-2020 – for making things – just add water, spawn and mold the material. Then let it grow. Contact him at: [email protected]

>>>>Egypt: mycelium material This start-up team has patented their own myco-composite material using mushroom strains found in Egypt. They have started to sell bowls, pots and to offer Mycelium packaging. We offer different products in construction such as insulation panels and open to supplying packaging as protective packaging for those seeking eco-friendly alternatives. We are also open to other creative projects using mycelium material. Visit our website: https://mycellium.co/

>>>>Europe:
>Grown.bio – has a license agreement with Ecovative Design.
their new MycoComposite™ kits consist of only LIVING mushroom material and are supplied to the EU countries. Possible also for geographical Europe, but customs clearances must be taken care of by the person making the order.
Grown.bio is now supplying the Mycelium Composite ™ material to insulate buildings. They have insulated class rooms in an Amsterdam school building and in a house in a village near Rotterdam. Scroll down to Building & Architecture products here. They have supplied the MycoComposite™ to many of the projects taking place in Europe, recently, that have been mentioned in my posts. Grown.bio sells other things made from MycoComposite™.

>>>India:
Finally! >Roha.bio At Roha we develop Mycelium bio-composite based protective packaging that can replace Styrofoam using agricultural residue and mushroom mycelium, we do this by collaborating with farmers and self-help groups in the villages, boosting their income.
On other hand we collaborate with startups and brands in consumer electronics space , design and develop protective packaging for their needs. Roha.bio

>>>>Indonesia:
>MYCL, Mycotech Lab has an internship program. It makes a lot of sense to get some controlled experience with mycelium. MYCOTECH Lab produces and sells, mycelium board composite panels BIOBO, and supplied the labor and material for the MycoTree project.

>>>>Malaysia
>Fungitech Mushroom farm waste is always a big problem for mushroom growers all around the world. In our site, we fully utilise this farm waste to make 100% chemical-free and biodegradable mycelium biomaterial. Currently, we mainly supply this green biomaterial for packaging purpose. This patent pending innovative technology is able to solve mushroom farm waste problem and provide a greener life style to our mother Earth.

>>>>The Netherlands – for Large orders in the EU Mycelium Materials Europe (in short
MME) started in 2018. We grow sustainable mycelium materials based on mushroom technology. We produce two types of organic materials in our own mushroom farm: MyFoam® (pure mycelium foam) and HedelComposite Hedelcomposite is composed of sterilized residual sawdust and inoculated with mycelium. Ready to use. Grow your own biodegradable mycelium objects with Hedelcomposite in just one week!  Maximum of 10 bags (300L) per order. 

>>>>New Zealand
> Bio Fab NZ a new company that Ecovative has licensed in New Zealand. “Lesley, We currently work within Australasia so can only ship within New Zealand and Australia. We are looking at having a large scale plant open early to mid 2021 and aim to set up one in Australia soon after. We are planning on selling Grow-it-yourself kits, but not until our plant is up and running.” says James from [email protected]

>>>>UK
> The Magical Mushroom Company a new company/website in the UK. (Ecovative License)..The Magical Mushroom Company is the UK’s first-ever production plant manufacturing mycelium-based packaging. Founded by three friends wanting to make a difference.

>>>>USA:
>Grow-It-Yourself Kits for MycoComposite™ are now available direct from Ecovative’s Grow.bio. Here you will find all instructions, learning, and purchasing information. Grow.bio, however, only ships the MycoComposite™ material within North America.
>Ecovative LLC has transferred all their Mushroom Packaging production equipment to a facility 4x bigger at Paradise Packaging Co which is now handled under the general website: https://mushroompackaging.com. The new company and new website offer you more information about the mushroom packaging material and how it works.

>>>more places around planet Earth?
From Ecovative:
>If you are interested in building a business in MycoComposite technology, Ecovative is now handling partnership discussions from here: https://mushroompackaging.com/pages/licensing-form Licensing with Ecovative allows the partner to explore alternate substrates, techniques, and products.
>For other issues Contact Ecovative Here

So, what do you think ? Have you found something here that is of help to you?