MYCELL PROJECT
Mycelium, the vegetative growth part of mold and mush- room, is known for its characteristics of network form growth.
Leveraging this network form, mycelium decomposes various resources as well as wastes and absorbs them after altering to water-soluble form.
Mycelium also has the special ability of diverse enzyme substances and new valuable substances to decompose.
Mycelium is mainly composed of natural polymers as chitin, cellulose, proteins, etc, so it is a natural polymeric composite fibrous material. Due to its unique structure and composition, the production of large amounts of mycelium-based materi- als have developed.
Fungi release digestive enzymes that are used to metabolize complex organic compounds into soluble nutrients and synthesize biochemical compounds. what hydrolyzed and biosynthesized by fungi are used as functional cosmetic and pharmaceutical materials.
Fungal mycelium have structures that are similar to the muscles of animals to replicate the fibrous and tender consistency of meat, whilst other alt protein materials cannot perform the same. Also, they have higher nutritional value, such as low in fat and rich in protein and dietary fiber.
Fungi have the ability to decompose and eliminate environmental pollutants. And similar to how neurons behave, the group of mycelium, living in symbiosis to plant roots and spreading in a network form, convey resource research informa- tion among each other and feed nutrition to where needed. Fungi have been proven to be a cheap, effective and environ- mentally sound way for removing a wide array of contaminants from damaged environments or wastewater.
Built upon liquid culture medium
The unique bio-process designed by Mycel project operates in a way similar to that of nature. By closed loop design which enables recycling of waste generated form each process step, we produce diverse products with high flexibility throughout a single produc- tion pipeline. Mycel project's unique bio-process built upon liquid medium is capable of producing products such as alt leather and alt protein as the process’s main stream, as well as fermentation based aromatic compounds and enzyme substance and leatherizing solution based biodegradable film and plastic as the process’s side stream.
Built upon solid culture medium
Mycel project's bio-process, built upon Lignocellulose medium which exploits biomass from urban and forest and industrial food waste, is designed to produce alt leather and alt protein as its main stream and packaging material and wood based panels, leverag- ing after-cultured medium, as well as biodegradable films and plastics using leather process solution as its side stream. After-cul- tured medium that includes mycelium can be used as resources to produce insect protein.
Mycel project can substitute animal leather with mushroom fungi to grow as the self-organized mat after 3 to 4 weeks of surface fermentation.
Eco-friendly leatherization process of Mycel Project enables the rebirth of cultured mushroom mycelium to the leather.
Less than 1% of CO2 emission and water
consumption are required in the culturing of law material as well as the entire process of Myco-leather production,
compare to the same of cowhide.
In addition, our process does not involve any of solid waste nor high concentrated chemical waste,
thus trans- forms one of the world’s three most polluting industries into low carbon and nature friendly shape.
Mycel project develops SPL(Single Cell Protein), a next gen alt meat material, using fungi.
Mycelium-based alt meat material have its superiority over soy protein-based materials at eco-friendliness and sustainability in production,
and its production speed as well as productivity is way higher than the same of cultured meat.