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Large-scale mycelium brick manufacturing

 
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This is similar to my work in one key area:
They are harvesting fruiting bodies for food/medicine, as well as yielding myco building materials as a value-added byproduct.

It's different mostly in that their systems appear to require a lot of equipment and infrastructure. which is cost-prohibitive for many.

Still, worth a watch.  It's beginning to catch on.



 
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Thanks for sharing this Beau.
So it looks like they are growing mushrooms on chipped woody weeds and then compressing the residue after harvest into building blocks. They say that the block are still more expensive than bricks, but I wonder if they are reforming them they may be able to make the blocks more functional than bricks. They are already fire resistant, could they be insulative as well? Or have features making them easier to build into strong structures perhaps?
 
Beau M. Davidson
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Nancy Reading wrote:Thanks for sharing this Beau.
So it looks like they are growing mushrooms on chipped woody weeds and then compressing the residue after harvest into building blocks. They say that the block are still more expensive than bricks, but I wonder if they are reforming them they may be able to make the blocks more functional than bricks. They are already fire resistant, could they be insulative as well? Or have features making them easier to build into strong structures perhaps?



Yeah, they're using a lot of (in my opinion) unnecessary steps, processes, etc.  And, they didn't cover the range of characteristics that mycelium of various species demonstrates, which encompasses what you suggest and more, Nancy.

I have said it before, but it bears repeating: If you're already growing mushrooms, it is not more work or expense to put the substrate in a specific shape for a useful afterlife.
 
Beau M. Davidson
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Another one worth watching.  

The bit at 4:50 is very similar to my process, except I use a liquid culture not agar, and I skip the middle jar, going straight from grain to final form.  Oh, and I use my own wood waste rather than industrially produced soy or pellets.

 
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