Mycosoft

Mushrooms still on the rise! – Think-Wood project “MycoSoft” launched

Project goals & contents:

In the MycoSoft project, research will be carried out over the next 3 years together with the Institute for Experimental Physics at the JKU Linz, the company partners Fronius International, Holz-Reisecker and UPM Steyrermühl to make softwood residues usable for the production of mycelia-bound (myco) packaging and insulation materials. Biogenic residual material (soft-wood particles, sawdust) bound together by fungal mycelium to form a solid “myco-material” have the potential to be used as a sustainable alternative to fossil-based insulation and packaging materials as they are biodegradable and can be returned into a bio-economic cycle. Local origin and easy availability of these residual materials are of great importance. One of the most readily available biogenic residues in Austria – sawdust/particles from coniferous wood – is not yet suitable for the efficient production of mycomaterials due to their fungi-inhibiting natural ingredients. In the project, the Wood K plus research team will deal with possibilities of raw material pre-treatment for optimising the growth processes of the fungi used in order to enable an efficient production of mycomaterials based on coniferous wood material. The suitability of the resulting materials will be verified by the utilisation partners in two prototypical applications as packaging material and granulate for blow-in insulation, respectively. The project results should create the basis for a cross-sectoral (construction and packaging industry) utilisation concept of plant residues from the sawmill industry and provide the necessary basics and findings for the development of sustainable, mycelia-based packaging and blow-in insulation materials in the sense of circular economy and bioeconomy. The project is intended to establish an important sub-sector of a sustainable bioeconomy in Austria, which manages local residual materials in sensible cycles. This results in a drastic increase in the added value of lignocellulosic residual material through cross-industrial use as packaging and insulation material.