Effects of different biomass on the properties of Pleurotus Djamor eco-friendly foam

¹ Faculty of Chemical Engineering & Technology, Universiti Malaysia Perlis, Jejawi 02600 Arau, Perlis, Malaysia.
² Centre of Excellence Geopolymer and Green Technology (CEGeoGTech), Universiti Malaysia Perlis, Kompleks Pusat Pengajian Jejawi 2, Taman Muhibbah, 02600 Arau, Perlis, Malaysia.
³ Institute of Nano Electronic Engineering, Universiti Malaysia Perlis, Seriab, Kangar, Perlis, 01000, Malaysia

^* Corresponding author: nurmawaddah@studentmail.unimap.edu.my

Abstract

Plastic waste and polyurethane foam are major sources of pollution that threatens environments’ biodiversity. The objective of the study is to create an eco-friendly foam from Pleorotus djamor mycelium, rice husk and sugarcane bagasse. The mushroom industry’s overabundance of materials, like oyster mushrooms and biomass, has provided an alternative method to make foam that could be beneficial for the environment. The biomass, consisting of rice husk and sugarcane bagasse, both of which are necessary for the production of foam, was evaluated as a substrate. Pleurotus djamor was inoculated on both substrates and test was done on both produced foams. Mechanical tests showed that rice husk foam had higher hardness and less springy than sugarcane bagasse foam. The morphology of both foams was analyzed using a scanning electron microscope (SEM), and the results show that sugarcane bagasse foam is denser than rice husk foam.