This is the fourth day of the annual spring meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS). Today, in one of the reports, researchers presented the technology for making eco-leather, yarn and paper from mushrooms.

Scientists tried to solve the problem of making eco-leather and fabrics from petroleum products. The researchers also noticed that a lot of food is simply disposed of and does not benefit. An attempt to solve two problems at once led to the emergence of a new technology for the manufacture of natural textile materials based on microfungi.

The researchers used spores of the fungus Rhizopus delemar, which were fed with breadcrumbs from unsaleable bread from supermarkets, to form the material. During the growth process, the fungi produced natural fibers from chitin and chitosan, which were collected in the cell walls. Two days later, the scientists cleared the cells of proteins, lipids, and other by-products. The remaining mass was spun into yarn, which could be used to make cloth.

Also, the mass was rolled out on a flat surface and dried. The result was a material similar to thick paper or artificial leather. Further, scientists noticed that such a material is very fragile and not ductile enough. As a result, it turned out to produce a multilayer structure that completely repeats the properties of the skin.

Now researchers are looking for ways to improve the material and new food sources for mushrooms so that they can use a variety of food waste and not be limited to bread. At this stage, it turned out that for nutrition, you can use the mass of fruits and vegetables remaining after squeezing the juice.

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