Mycelium in Industry – Ancient and New

In this post:

.gif above: https://www.corpuscoli.com/projects/mycelium-design-animations/

7 seconds – Cambo Mycelium @ 50 FPS

Industrial Strength Mushroom

If mushrooms are so basic to our planet, why not continue with them?

Those that study the beginnings of planet Earth find that Mycelium probably were here first and built the atmosphere for planet Earth to make it possible for us to breath.

If Mushrooms, Fungi, which are made up of mycelium (a network of fungal threads [called hyphae] sometimes so tiny we can not see them with the naked eye), are the material of this planet’s beginnings, maybe Industrial Strength Mushroom should push us into the future. Is this our way to return to harmony with planet Earth?

16 seconds – Mushroom mycelium

The Requirements for Closed-Loop processes

The key to our continued life on planet Earth may be right beneath our feet, crawling up trees, on the shelves in our vegetable markets.  It is believed that Industrial Strength Mushroom can help solve many of industries greatest challenges; from cleaning up CO2 to producing products that are sustainable, and fulfill all the requirements needed to achieve a Circular Economy.

  • Free of Fossil based materials and fuel
  • Far less energy to produce industrial products/raw materials
  • Re-newable, Re-usable – lightweight, sustainable but static
  • Compost back into nature
  • Carbon-Neutral or even carbon-negative
  • Elastic properties of both tension and compression
  • Will fill a mold shape as required
  • Fire, Heat, Sound Resistant
  • Dyeable and Vegan

What if you have a business from which others could buy carbon offsets, because your business is carbon negative and their business is not.  Your company produces a product that can be composted when it is thrown away.  Your product is not made with fossil fuel, in fact, it uses far less energy in production.    Yes!  This is all possible and best achieved as local companies/suppliers.

Industries already use Mycelium bio-based technology.

Industrial Strength Mushroom is already a supplier to the Textile, Packaging, Construction, Food and Furniture industries….for starters….and can be the foundation of thousands of local Small and Medium size businesses.

really Mycelium in Industry- Mycelium in Industry – Ancient and New < Circular Economy
mushroom packaging at work

The basic process is like making bread. 

(Yeast is a single–cell fungus)

  • Something Agricultural/vegetable is seeded with mycelium (like mixing yeast into flour).
  • After a short period of incubation/cultivation, the mixture is cut or pulled into little pieces to fill some kind of mold/shape.
  • The mycelium grows a few days until it has covered and surrounded the vegetable particles. 
  • In a last step, the shape is pulled from the mold and dried to stop the mycelium from growing any further.
1:54 minutes – Mushroom Packaging
Developed in 2007 by Ecovative Design, Mushroom® Packaging is made from mycelium and is a high performing packaging solution, cost competitive with conventional foams, and 100% home compostable.

Mycelium in Industry

Grow your product.  How many things that are still petroleum-based, today, can we substitute with a Mycelium product?

Enemy Number One or Two?

According to a World Economic Forum article, we are entering a new era in  relationship to plastic.  What was once a miracle product has become public enemy number one.  The recent efforts to control its use have been mostly single-use plastics, but there is lots of other plastics to replace with something else.

rather Mycelium in Industry- Mycelium in Industry – Ancient and New < Circular Economy

Image: UN Environment
More than 300 million tons of plastic waste went into the ocean in 2015 .   The research of the Ocean Cleanup has even worse statistics.
Any and all alternatives to plastic that we can find / develop and that follow the factors of a Circular production process, will only help.


Fungi live everywhere that moisture is present. 

Mycelium in Industry- Mycelium in Industry – Ancient and New < Circular Economy

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. There are those that are ready to help; from the USA, from the Far East, from the EU: Grown.bio.

All my posts on Mycelium

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

Suppliers list

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 Netherlandsfor 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

Mycelium in Industry

1:56 minutes – from Joe’s Big Idea? | NPR

ALWAYS 
How to join the Circular Economy and other eco-concerns of small business owners are the motive for my blog. Tell me what you are looking for.   Maybe I can help you find it.

2 Replies to “Mycelium in Industry – Ancient and New”

    1. Bernelle, take a look at the other ones. I think I need to add a little of your information in the one on Construction?

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