Grantee Research Project Results
Final Report: Parameter Development for the Scaled Manufacturing of Mycelium Bound Panels for Commercial Interior Products
EPA Contract Number: 68HERD19C0005Title: Parameter Development for the Scaled Manufacturing of Mycelium Bound Panels for Commercial Interior Products
Investigators: Meeks, Daniel
Small Business: Ecovative Design, LLC
EPA Contact: Richards, April
Phase: II
Project Period: December 1, 2018 through November 30, 2020
Project Amount: $299,148
RFA: Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) - Phase II (2018) Recipients Lists
Research Category: Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) , SBIR - Green Buildings Materials and Systems
Description:
Engineered wood products are ubiquitous in structural and non-structural applications, and are traditionally comprised of wood particles or fibers, waxes, and resins. Engineered wood represents a $8.5B market in the United States annually, the domestic engineered wood manufacturers of particleboard and medium density fiberboard have not fully recovered from the economic decline experienced in 2008, operating below 75% capacity due to competitive imports from Southeast Asia and South America. In some instances, imported products have been found to not meet both state and federal regulations on formaldehyde emissions, which has led to growing concerns around indoor air quality and human health. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) took action in 2016 to begin phasing formaldehyde out of interior applications over a period of 8 years (TSCA, RIN 2070-AJ44), which has now placed additional pressure on the nonstructural engineered wood industry.
Other companies have begun to develop substitutes traditional resin technology but have mostly fallen short of this objective. Ecovative’s biomaterial technology offers a resin system, mResin™, that meets all legislative requirements as an ideal formaldehyde replacement. This system is inherently cost competitive and energy efficient and can leverage existing manufacturing equipment used in the engineered wood industry and panel production.
Ecovative Design is an innovative bio-manufacturing company located in Green Island, NY. Since its founding in 2007, Ecovative Design has been a pioneer in the field of mushroom based biomanufacturing. Using their patented mycelium (mushroom root) technology, Ecovative develops and manufactures sustainable alternatives to environmentally toxic materials, which have a low embodied energy and are compostable upon end of life. Ecovative has developed a novel product to displace toxic Urea Formaldehyde resin from the engineered wood industry, as well as Expanded Polystyrene Foams (EPS). By inoculating wood particles with mushroom mycelium and incubating in a specialized solid-state bioreactor system, called the Bulk Bin Reactor (BBR) Ecovative is able to produce large, low-cost mycelium-based panels, named Mycofoam, to replace these toxic and polluting chemicals from our waste streams.
During the Phase II workplan, Ecovative sought to develop the prototype stage Bulk Bin Reactor (BBR) manufacturing system into a commercially viable and market ready technology by determining the optimal parameters needed to reliably produce quality Mycofoam panels, while minimizing cost of goods manufactured. To achieve this, Ecovative conducted screening studies to determine the parameters which have the strongest effect on the strength of mycelium composites at bench scale, then tested the selected parameters at full scale in the BBR.
To support high replicate testing and enable statistically driven decision making Ecovative designed and fabricated a high replicate bench scale reactor capable of growing 54 individual replicates in a single experiment. Due to the large size of the Bulk Bin Reactor, this bench scale reactor is a valuable asset for conducting rapid screening experiments, and high replicate studies which would be infeasible in the full scale BBR. Ecovative utilized this reactor to test a number of methods for reducing cost of goods sold through substrate selection and substrate inoculation methods.
Upon identification of the optimized parameters for the BBR manufacturing system, Ecovative developed internal Standard Operating Procedures, and trained an internal staff of operators to support BBR prototype manufacturing and low volume sales. Ecovative then adapted these internal SOP’s into a comprehensive Technology Transfer document, and used this document to train initial licensees of the technology.
Summary/Accomplishments (Outputs/Outcomes):
As a result of this workplan, Ecovative tested and validated new, low-cost manufacturing processes which decreased Cost of Goods Sold by 41%, as well as decreasing the capital requirements for standing up a manufacturing licensee by ~$480,000 by selecting a raw materials solution which removed the need for pre-treatment of raw materials in a continuous pasteurizer system. Ecovative then validated this system by developing a new quality control program for mechanical testing of produced panels to determine flexural modulus. These operational changes led to an 85% strength increase for standard Grade A panels, compared to the beginning of the workplan. Additionally, Ecovative was able to produce successful materials using a novel inoculation system which reduced inoculation rate (an expensive raw material component of Cost of Goods Sold) by 50%. Despite its success at bench scale, the research team was unable to replicate this result at full scale in the BBR.
A quality control system was developed based on the flexural modulus of BBR materials. This system tested two (of approximately 10) standard panels harvested from production standard BBR runs. The results of these panels were collected to create a strength performance baseline using an Xbar control program. Panels produced within the BBR system were segmented by height to create two quality grades. Grade A panels, harvested from the bottom of the BBR system achieved an average flexural modulus of 2700psi, an 85% increase in the strength of Grade A panels tested prior to the onset of the workplan. These panels are best suited for semi structural applications. Grade B panels, harvested from the top of the bin, averaged at 1400psi.
Ecovative also conducted third party tests for acoustic dampening (ASTM C423) and flame resistance (ASTM E84). Ecovative’s acoustic NRC score decreased from 90% sound absorbance at the onset of the workplan to 70% sound absorbance due to the increased strength performance (and therefore increased acoustic resonance), commensurate with many similar acoustic panel products. BBR materials received a class C fire rating during E84 testing, an improvement from previous full scale tests, be below the ultimate goal for interior applications of achieving a Class A.
Conclusions:
Ecovative was largely successful in its cost reducing efforts by identifying commercially available substrates which enabled adoption of cost cutting methodologies, and also developed manufacturing processes which significantly decreased labor costs by validating the use new scaled processing equipment. By implementing equipment upgrades to the BBR growth system, Ecovative was able to significantly increase the flexural modulus of its Mycofoam panels. This increase in strength, however, resulted in a small decrease in the acoustic dampening properties of the panels. Ecovative will continue to iterate on methods to improve the Fire rating of its Mycofoam materials, through substrate blending, upholstery with flame resistant fabrics, and through testing of an additional growth step, intended to encase all exposed wood particles in fire resistant mycelium.
Ecovative signed its first licensed manufacturer of the BBR technology nine months before the end of the workplan. Using the technology transfer packaged adopted from internal SOP’s, Ecovative signed Paradise Packaging Company, of Paradise California, as their first licensee. During year 2 of the workplan, Ecovative successfully onboarded and trained this licensee, and validated their production process via development of an Xbar control chart which was compared against Ecovative’s internally developed control chart. Moving forward, Paradise will support the BBR project by fulfilling small volume commercial sales, as well as providing sample materials for other parties in licensees Ecovative’s globally distributed pipeline of current and prospective licensees. Ecovative has also engaged a number of parties as potential customers and prospective licensees of the BBR technologies in the building and construction and interiors spaces. Ecovative providing sample materials for application specific testing, and completed a number of small scale commercial sales, including to the US Navy Seaborne Targets Branch to support their ongoing sustainability initiative for using compostable materials for floating ballistic targets.
SBIR Phase I:
Growth and Fungal Resin Generation for Manufacturing Novel, Formaldehyde-Free Wood Particleboard | Final ReportThe perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Conclusions drawn by the principal investigators have not been reviewed by the Agency.