Forest residues for combined edible mushroom and biofuel production (comush)

Important results from the project

The goal of this project was to develop and evaluate the system and technical solutions i.e. the prerequisites of establishing an integrated industrial chain for both edible mushroom and biofuel production. The project team has succeed in finding solutions to attack the problems along the chain, such as suitable fungal species and their growing substrates, necessary parameters for pasteurisation and operational conditions for enzymatic conversion of recycled spent substrate for biofuel production. All tasks are fulfilled and further industrial developments are initiated.

Expected long term effects

The approach of integrating edible mushroom and bioethanol production is approved feasible. The best results are from growing Lentinula edodes in birch and alder substrates where the ratio of nitrogen and bark in substrate are optimal. Hot-air pasteurisation of the substrates can reduce 60% energy and 65% CO2 emission than steam autoclavation. New devices and processes will facilitate robotization of mushroom production. Five academic publications and 2 patents are generated. An industrial development is initiated aiming at a demo plant of mushroom industry in northern Sweden.

Approach and implementation

To reach the goal of the project, a few edible fungi and wood residues were studied for mushroom yields, substrate delignification and recycling spent substrates for ethanol. Experiment at lab and industrial facility were also performed. The fulfilled tasks include WP1 determination of substrate recipe and process, WP2 Verification of pasteurization parameters, WP3 Evaluation of enzymatic hydrolysis on spent substrates, and WP4 Life cycle analysis. Umeå university, IVL, ProcessIT and nine SME companies are involved in the project work.