Well, the title seems appropriate. Because of this new development with fungi.   It seems that we can convert fungi into thin sheets- I know that’s not a big deal.  But, this is- those sheets are fire resistant, which would make them perfect for use in building structures.

This would mean those toxic, flame-retardant chemicals (asbestos, polybrominated diphenyl ethers) won’t be needed- or even the slightly less toxic organophosphates.

This development is being investigated by Drs N Chulakavit, T Huynh, A Khatibi, and E Kandare (all of RMIT, Melbourne, Australia), along with C Wang (University of New South Wales) and ACY Yuen (Hong Kong Polytechnic University). . Their findings were published in the Journal of Polymer Degradation and Stability (Fireproofing flammable composites using mycelium: Investigating the effect of deacetylation on the thermal stability and fire reaction properties of mycelium)

They started with Basidomycota fungi ( a non-pathogenic species), growing in molasses.  Mycelia have root-like structures (thread-like hyphae filaments), which cells walls are primarily chitin.  (Chitin is the second most polysaccharide found in nature, and is found in the exoskeleton of many insects.)

The chitin (a component of the mycelium) is converted to chitosan (a linear polysaccharide) after treatment with sodium hydroxide. That process is called alkaline deacetylation.The fungus dies during the drying process, so there won’t be any mushrooms or similar growth with the chitosans. In the past, Dr. Huynh has converted this mycelium into bricks- and he found them to be stable for about 10 years.

When subjected to  800C temperatures, the chitosan charred (for about a second) – but that protected the rest of the sheet from succumbing to the flames.  Moreover, even if it could get ignited (which it doesn’t), the products were water and carbon dioxide.

The goal is to make these wafers into wallpaper to cover walls or make them into thicker timber-like panels.

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