Aprovechamiento del crecimiento micelial del hongo “pleurotus ostreatus” sembrado en paja de trigo “tricum spp” para la obtención de biomaterial de empaquetamiento

Abstract

The indiscriminate use of petroleum-derived plastic products has turned them into a major component of urban and marine waste, one of the main elements of this type being polyfoams, which are neither recyclable nor biodegradable. These should be urgently replaced by other elements that meet the same characteristics. The option of using mushroom mycelium and agroindustrial waste is seen as a viable solution, relatively inexpensive, environmentally friendly and within the principles proposed in the circular economy and sustainability. This study examines the properties of compressive strength and flexural strength, according to ASTM C165 and ASTM C203, in a material made by molding the mycelial growth of Pleurotus ostreatus mushroom on wheat straw, varying the granulometry of this substrate. The results obtained show that there is no significant difference in the variation of the granulometry of the substrate, in the ranges proposed for the compressive strength test, however, a significant difference is found when the material is subjected to the flexural strength test. The conditions of the procedure in which finer substrate particles were found yielded data at 10 and 25 % deformation that reached the amount of 51.67 and 193.13 kPa respectively; and for the flexural test a maximum of 91.3 kPa of resistance was achieved. The properties expressed by the material are an indication that it can be used as a replacement for expanded polystyrene foam, considering that for this purpose there are different types of EPS, which could be matched by varying other factors that have not been changed in this case.