Mycelium as an advanced functional material
department or school: Applied Science, Faculty of
department or school: Chemical and Biological Engineering, Department of
data provider: DSpace
degree campus: UBCV
creator: French, Victoria Marie
issued: 2025-11-18T17:25:55Z
issued: 2025
related degree: Doctor of Philosophy - PhD
degree grantor: University of British Columbia
description: This thesis explores the engineering of pure mycelium materials as sustainable, functional alternatives to conventional synthetic materials for pollution control. By systematically investigating the influence of fungal species and bioprocessing methods, this work demonstrates that mycelium networks can be tailored to yield materials with tunable network morphology, mechanical strength, and surface chemistry. Compared to liquid state fermentation, solid-state fermentation produced dense mycelial mats with high chitin content and superior mechanical properties. Submerged fermentation methods enabled the formation of porous sheets with high strength values relative to static fermentation methods and a high mannoprotein content. These findings reveal the tunability of fungal material properties and underscore the importance of bioprocess control in designing materials for specific applications. Building on these insights, mycelium-derived materials were applied to address pressing environmental challenges in air and water remediation. Mycelium-modified mask layers achieved high particulate filtration efficiency (up to 97% for PM2.5) with breathability comparable to commercial masks and exhibited asymmetric hydrophobicity for improved moisture management. In water treatment, mycelium membranes demonstrated high adsorption capacities for heavy metals (up to 73.2 mg/g for Cu(II)), outperforming other low cost, biobased adsorbents, and retained performance over multiple regeneration cycles. Hybrid membranes incorporating cellulose nanofibrils further balanced water flux and metal rejection. Additionally, mycelium-based membranes with immobilized laccase were produced for the effective degradation of phenolic pollutants, maintaining high catalytic activity and stability over repeated use. Application of the enzyme-mycelium membrane to water contaminated with azo dye Congo Red resulted in a reduction of 92% of dye using optimal immobilization conditions. By bridging fungal bi…
aggregated CHO: https://circle.library.ubc.ca/rest/handle/2429/92914
note: Mycelium as an Advanced Functional Material by Victoria Marie French B.S., Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 2020 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE AND POSTDOCTORAL STUDIES (Chemical and Biological Engineering) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Vancouver) November 2025 © Victoria Marie French, 2025 ii The following individuals certify that they have read, and recommend to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies for acceptance, the dissertation entitled: Mycelium as an Advanced Functional Material submitted by Victoria Marie French in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Chemical and Biological Engineering Examining Committee: E. Johan Foster, Professor, Chemical and Biological Engineering, UBC Supervisor Scott Renneckar, Professor, Forestry, UBC Supervisory Committee Member Charles Haynes, Professor, Chemical and Biological Engineering, UBC Supervisory Committee Member Susan Baldwin, Professor, Chemical and Biological Engineering, UBC University Examiner Steven Hallam, Professor, Microbiology, UBC University Examiner Kevin Edgar, Professor, Sustainable Biomaterials, Virginia Tech External Examiner iii Abstract This thesis explores the engineering of pure mycelium materials as sustainable, functional alternatives to conventional synthetic materials for pollution control. By systematically investigating the influence of fungal species and bioprocessing methods, this work demonstrates that mycelium networks can be tailored to yield materials with tunable network morphology, mechanical strength, and surface chemistry. Compared to liquid state fermentation, solid-state fermentation produced dense mycelial mats with high chitin content and superior mechanical properties. Submerged fermentation methods enabled the formation of porous sheets with high strength values relative to static fermentation methods an…
has type: Thesis/Dissertation
date issued: 2026-05
is shown at: 10.14288/1.0450753
language: eng
degree discipline: Chemical and Biological Engineering
provider: Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
publisher: University of British Columbia
rights: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
rights URI: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
scholar level: Graduate
contributor: Foster, E. Johan
type: Text
identifier URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/92914