The stale bread, which the chefs are benefited by transforming into a new food supplement, is about to be a textile product. A scientist at the University of Borås said that he has experienced with successful results. The research involves growing filamentous mushrooms on bread residues in bioreactors and then producing yarn and nonwoven textiles in two different processes. Filaments can be used as food in protein form.
They managed to make yarn
Akram Zamani, a scientist who participated in the project and working as a senior lecturer in Resources Recycling at Borås University, ‘’We have seen that most of the food leftovers in the markets coming out from bread. So we wanted to investigate how we could turn it into a new product. ” In the research, filamentous fungi are to be grown on bread waste in bioreactors. It will then be used in two different processes to form yarns and to produce nonwoven textile products. When the bread had become a fungus biomass, we extracted protein in stages that could be used as food or animal diet. We use some of the cell protective fibers remaining from the fungi to turn them into yarn and some of them to produce nonwoven fabrics. We completed most of the stages to facilitate growth of the cells and have received positive results. Now we are working on the wet spinning process to form a yarn. We are testing different methods to improve the properties of the yarn.’’
Can be used in many fields
It is expected that mushrooms can be transformed and used for clothing, medical applications and furniture textiles. During the first two years, the minimum amount of tests will be done to scale the process in the third and fourth years. There is no previous research has been done on this subject. Therefore, it is difficult to know what we will counter with’’ said Zamani and concluded, “We buy bread from a local market and we can keep the amount of bread in consistent with the need. This gives us the opportunity to test different things in order to improve the final condition of the element. Adding to Resource Recovery and Textile Technology researchers at Borås University, KTH, RISE Innventia and Sahlgrenska University Hospital were also conducted as part of the project. The project, which has been ongoing for more than four years, is being financed by Vinnova.
