Growing new types of building materials: mycelium-based composite materials

Nazanin Saeidi; Alireza Javadian; Dirk E. Hebel

doi:10.1515/auto-2024-0038

Article

Growing new types of building materials: mycelium-based composite materials

Nazanin Saeidi
Nazanin Saeidi, is currently head of research at Chair of Sustainable Construction at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and Co-Principal Investigator of Urban-Biocycle Project at Future Cities Laboratory of Singapore-ETH Centre. In her PhD at Nanyang Technological University she worked on “Engineering microbes to sense and eradicate a human pathogen”, which got a publication under Molecular Systems Biology from Nature Publishing Group, and featured in more than 70 public and academic media. She has received several awards and recognition from different conferences, and named as one of the 20 emerging innovators in Asia Pacific by MIT Technology Review in 2020.
, Alireza Javadian
Alireza Javadian has received his PhD in Architecture and Construction from ETH Zurich and is currently working as the Head of Research at Faculty of Architecture at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany and as the Co-principal investigator of the Urban Bio-cycle project at the Future Cities Laboratory in Singapore. His research is focused on development of alternative sustainable construction materials made from renewable resources such as bamboo, timber and agricultural waste and industrial by-products following a circular economy principle.
and Dirk E. Hebel
Dirk E. Hebel is Professor of Sustainable Construction and the Dean of the Department of Architecture at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology. He is the author of numerous book publications, lately Urban Mining und kreislaufgerechtes Bauen (2021, Fraunhofer Verlag, with Felix Heisel). He is co-founder and partner of 2hs Architekten und Ingenieur PartGmbB Hebel Heisel Schlesier, focusing on resource-respectful construction. His work has been shown in numerous exhibitions worldwide. As Faculty Advisor together with Prof. Andreas Wagner, he won the first Solar Decathlon Competition 2022 held in Germany as part of the team RoofKIT (Regina Gebauer and Nicolas Carbonare).

Published/Copyright: June 28, 2024

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From the journal at - Automatisierungstechnik Volume 72 Issue 7

Abstract

In the coming decades, the use of finite and ever-scarcer primary materials will become more and more difficult, and especially more expensive. In the EU Taxonomy, the European Union stipulates that, in order to benefit from public funding, buildings must reduce their primary-materials footprint by 50 % by the year 2030 and even by 75 % by the year 2050. The intention is to replace these sources of primary raw materials with so-called secondary materials, especially with renewable raw materials. However, because land within the EU is already being used very intensively for forestry and food production, increasing scrutiny is falling on other fields involving production independent of location using organic waste materials and fungi to grow new types of building materials. This type of growth requires few resources and can take place without use of land in existing, repurposed facilities of all kinds, such as old industrial buildings or infrastructure facilities like mining shafts.

Kurzbeschreibung

Die Nutzung von endlichen und zur Neige gehenden Primärmaterialien wird in den nächsten Jahrzehnten immer schwieriger und vor allem auch teurer werden. Die EU sieht in Ihrer Taxonomie-Verordnung vor, daß, um in den Genuss öffentlicher Förderungen zu kommen, Gebäude ihren Primärmaterial-Fußabdruck bis zum Jahr 2030 um 50 % und bis zum Jahr 2050 sogar um 75 % reduzieren müssen. Ersetzt werden sollen dies Primärrohstoffströme durch sogenannte Sekundärmaterialien und vor allem auch nachwachsenden Rohstoffen. Da aber auch die Landflächen in der EU heute schon für Forst und die Produktion für Nahrungsmittel extrem beansprucht sind, geraten andere Bereiche einer ortsunabhängigen Produktion vermehrt ins Blickfeld, die organische Abfallstoffe und Pilzorganismen zur Züchtung neuartiger Baustoffe verwenden. Dieses Wachstum ist anspruchslos und kann ohne Bodennutzung in bestehenden, umprogrammierten Anlagen aller Art, wie beispielsweise alten Industriebauten oder Infrastrukturanlagen wie Bergstollen stattfinden.

Keywords: circular bioeconomy; mycelium; secondary materials; biogenic waste

Schlagwörter: Zirkuläre Bioökonomie; Myzel; Sekundärstoffe; Biogene Abfälle

Corresponding author: Dirk E. Hebel, Kalrsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), KIT Faculty of Architecture, Institute of Design & Building Technology IEB, Gebäude 11.40, Raum 21-23, Englerstrasse 11, DE-76131 Karlsruhe, Germany, E-mail: dirk.hebel@kit.edu

About the authors

Nazanin Saeidi

Nazanin Saeidi, is currently head of research at Chair of Sustainable Construction at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and Co-Principal Investigator of Urban-Biocycle Project at Future Cities Laboratory of Singapore-ETH Centre. In her PhD at Nanyang Technological University she worked on “Engineering microbes to sense and eradicate a human pathogen”, which got a publication under Molecular Systems Biology from Nature Publishing Group, and featured in more than 70 public and academic media. She has received several awards and recognition from different conferences, and named as one of the 20 emerging innovators in Asia Pacific by MIT Technology Review in 2020.

Alireza Javadian

Alireza Javadian has received his PhD in Architecture and Construction from ETH Zurich and is currently working as the Head of Research at Faculty of Architecture at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany and as the Co-principal investigator of the Urban Bio-cycle project at the Future Cities Laboratory in Singapore. His research is focused on development of alternative sustainable construction materials made from renewable resources such as bamboo, timber and agricultural waste and industrial by-products following a circular economy principle.

Dirk E. Hebel

Dirk E. Hebel is Professor of Sustainable Construction and the Dean of the Department of Architecture at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology. He is the author of numerous book publications, lately Urban Mining und kreislaufgerechtes Bauen (2021, Fraunhofer Verlag, with Felix Heisel). He is co-founder and partner of 2hs Architekten und Ingenieur PartGmbB Hebel Heisel Schlesier, focusing on resource-respectful construction. His work has been shown in numerous exhibitions worldwide. As Faculty Advisor together with Prof. Andreas Wagner, he won the first Solar Decathlon Competition 2022 held in Germany as part of the team RoofKIT (Regina Gebauer and Nicolas Carbonare).

Research ethics: Not applicable.
Author contributions: Nazanin Saeidi: Writing of original draft, visualization, supervision, review & editing, Alireza Javadian: Writing-review & editing, Dirk E. Hebel: Writing-review & editing.
Competing interests: The authors state no conflict of interest.
Research funding: None declared.
Data availability: Not applicable.

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Received: 2024-02-23

Accepted: 2024-05-14

Published Online: 2024-06-28

Published in Print: 2024-07-26

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Articles in the same Issue

https://doi.org/10.1515/auto-2024-0038

Keywords for this article

circular bioeconomy; mycelium; secondary materials; biogenic waste