Use of waste mushroom beds for the production of value-added biodegradable fiber sheet

¹ Department of Agro-Industrial, Food and Environmental Technology, Faculty of Applied Science, Food and Agro-Industry Research Center, King Mongkut’s University of Technology North Bangkok, Bangkok 10800, Thailand.
² Science and Technology Research Institute, King Mongkut’s University of Technology North Bangkok, Bangkok 10800, Thailand.
³ Department of Agricultural Engineering for Industry, Faculty of Industrial Technology and Management, King Mongkut’s University of Technology North Bangkok, Prachinburi 25230, Thailand.
⁴ The Sirindhorn International Thai-German Graduate School of Engineering, King Mongkut’s University of Technology North Bangkok, Bangkok 10800, Thailand.
⁵ Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, Iowa State University, 536 Farm House Lane, Ames, IA 50011-1054, USA.

^* Corresponding author: chaniga.c@stri.kmutnb.ac.th

Abstract

This research focused on the utilization of waste mushroom beds (WMB) after the harvesting of oyster (WMB-O) and lingzhi mushrooms (WMB-L) for the preparation of eco-friendly materials, fiber sheets. The WMB were sterilized and determined for their chemical compositions. The dry fiber of the sterilized WMB were pretreated by a steam explosion, comparing with alkaline pretreatment before the fiber sheet forming process. The results showed that f-cellulose contents of the WMB were in the range of 27-35% by dry weight basis. The fiber from WMB-L treated by alkaline at 13.5% w/w of NaOH for 120 min showed better fiber sheet appearance, compared to the steam explosion. Afterward, tapioca starch was added as a natural binder during the fiber sheet forming and their physical properties were determined. The analytical results indicated that an increase of NaOH concentration in the pretreatment led to an increase in the toughness and water absorption of the fiber sheet. The additional tapioca starch promoted the interaction between cellulose fiber networks, corresponding to the decrease of water absorption and a compressed appearance after water immersion. These finding results disclosed a potential use of the WMB as ecofriendly materials, e.g. biodegradable packaging, packing materials, cultivation vase in the future.