MycoMaterials

A Revolutionary Technology for Circular Production of Mycelial Leather from Agri-food by-products

The MycoMaterials project, led by BioscienZ (NL) in partnership with B4Plastics and Millvision, was awarded €1,05 million from Eurostars to develop their revolutionary MycoMaterials technology for circular production of mycelial (Myco-)leather, generated from agrifood by-products. The MycoMaterials project will address strong demand for sustainable leather alternatives.

Vegan Leather is a member of CrossRoads2: Sustainable Energy, which is financed by Interreg V Flanders-Netherlands, the cross-border cooperation programme with financial support from the European Regional Development Fund.

The Problem

Currently 92% of animal leather is chromium-tanned, generating toxic heavy metal waste and presenting a health risk to workers, while synthetic leather alternatives depend on fossil-based feedstocks and are pollutive to the environment, often requiring expensive recovery schemes.
  • a

    COâ‚‚ impact of leather

  • a

    Toxic pollution

  • a

    Harm to animals

A deeper dive into the problem

The Solution

The 36 month  MycoMaterials project aims to bring to market both sustainable Myco-leather, and patented Myco-leather production technology.

To achieve this, BioscienZ and project partners, B4Plastics and MillVision, will develop a first-of-its-kind fermentation technology for vegan leather production.

Using a proprietary processing technology, fungal mycelium will be crosslinked into a myco-pulp, which can then be converted into biobased leather.
The MycoMaterials technology has low environmental impact, as the feedstock comes from upcycled agricultural waste – wheatstarch and lactose streams, protamylase stream (co-product of potato starch), or animal manure – and the mycelium cultivating process is energy efficient. Thus, the technology can contribute to a circular economy by connecting food and non-food supply chains.

A deeper dive into the solution

The Value Chain

Steps in the value chain

Transitioning from lineair to circular

Raw material production

Manufacture
and use

Disposal

  • 1

    Raw Material

  • 2

    Monomer production

  • 3

    Polymer production

  • 4

    Plastic conversion

  • 5

    Production of plastic products

  • 6

    Use

  • 7

    Collection/ sorting and recycling

  • 8

    End of life

Bio-based value chain The Project B4Plastics 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Raw material production

1 Raw material

Sugar-rich waste exstracted from sugar beets.

This MycoMaterials project has received funding from Eureka (Project no. 153) and Vlaio (Grant agreement No. HBC.2021.1011) under the Eurostars programm

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