Fabrication of Mycelium Biofoam from Wastepaper

Replacing the synthetic polymer with a biodegradable material, which is mycelium biofoam, has been extensively explored to achieve a sustainable ?green? world. Recently, most of mycelium biofoam studies have focused on material development by using lignocellulosic materials as a substrate for the availability of the material. Nonetheless, wastepaper is one of the lignocellulosic materials that have great potential to be a reinforcement material for the mycelium biofoam fabrication. Therefore, in this study, wastepapers were used as substrates for the production of mycelium biofoam. The mycelium from three different species which are Pleurotus ostreatus, Volvariella volvacea and Schizophyllum commune was screened by using blended wastepaper as a substrate. Based on the growth conditions during the screening procedure, P. ostreatus showed the highest growth area (0.76 cm²) on the wastepaper after 7 days of inoculation compared to V. volvacea and S. commune. P. ostreatus then was subjected in the fabrication process and mechanically characterized after 24 h of the drying process. The effect of growth factors which are spawn loading, moisture content and temperature on fungi growth rate and mechanical behavior was determined. The results show that the highest dry density of mycelium biofoam was observed at 60% (w/w) of moisture content (0.451 g/cm³), and the highest compressive strength was observed at a temperature of 30 °C (2.343 MPa). Hence, wastepaper as the reinforcement material has great potential for the fabrication of mycelium biofoam.