MykoBead: an innovative and low carbon loose-fill bead insulation made from waste bio-based feedstocks

Mykor, the lead company on this project, is working on a custom-engineered insulating bead infill with increased thermal performance, fire resistance, low carbon content, and simple installation. Mykor’s insulation bead is devised from minerals extracted from waste ash and fungal foam, which can be indefinitely renewable and recyclable. This is responding to two urgent needs. First, to reduce carbon emissions from construction industry, which contributes 40% of UK’s carbon emissions (Royal Academy of Engineering, 2021). Indeed, 11% of global greenhouse gas emissions are from construction materials (WCBC, 2019). Recently, the UK House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee published a report on costing carbon in construction (2022), which encouraged research and development into new low-carbon products. Second, to help make UK buildings more energy efficient, which is one of the points of the UK Government’s Ten Point Plan for a Green Industrial Revolution (2020) to help build back better. Therefore, by developing an effective low-carbon content insulating bead, this project led by Mykor would help the UK to tackle the climate crisis by using less carbon to help keep homes warm.

As part of this project, UWE Bristol will design, manufacture and characterise mineral scaffold (in extruded terracotta ceramics) as cores to functionalise for optimal mycelial growth for the creation of insulation products. This work will contribute to the understanding of the properties of natural construction materials, and will be conducted at the Centre for Print Research (CFPR). Contributing to knowledge is core to the aims of this cross-disciplinary project, which will open new frontiers in the science and technology of bio-based construction materials. Bio-based materials are effective carbon sinks and therefore offer a huge potential in decarbonising the built environment. Therefore, this project will couple Mykor’s material biotechnology in using waste minerals and fungal foams to produce a material with insulator properties and high sustainable credentials, with the UWE Bristol know-how of the production of bespoke ceramics components through specialist digitally assisted production methods, including extrusion and paste 3D printing. The academic community will benefit in the following ways. First, academics and technicians involved in the project will benefit from sharing knowledge with industry and other project partners on material biotechnology methodologies. These shared learnings will support innovation in the field as well as develop new skillsets. For example, the technician will be trained in a new technique with SEM imaging. Second, the project will produce findings that will benefit the broader academic and practitioner community involved with sustainable design and materials in the built environment. For example, we will be advancing scientific knowledge on many aspects of material development, including: nanotechnology for enhancing sustainable construction materials, applications of multi-functional nano-membranes, issues relating to adherence to substrate, implications of material properties such as pore size and pore network, mechanical performance of natural construction. Additionally, the nanotechnology and smart material development will be beneficial for research groups working in energy harvesting, moisture movement and carbon sequestration, as the methodology can be applied in these other contexts. Moreover, the technology developed as part of this project may be used to retrofit existing houses in a more sustainable way, and will be of interest to those helping to reduce the carbon footprint of the construction industry. We will ensure the research findings are disseminated to these academic communities by the extensive links that Dr Jorgensen and the Centre For Print Research has within many disciplines.