Reuse of food waste for construction of fungal membranes and filters for water and air purification

Purpose and goal:

Filter and membranes are often produced from fossil-based polymers, and used for air and water purification. Membrane filtration facilities demands frequent membrane replacement. Moreover, due to COVID-19 pandemic consumption of disposable masks have been increased dramatically, and several billions of masks are discarded every day.

Therefore, green alternatives for membranes and filters are required to replace the fossil-based membranes and filters. This project aims at introduction of a new generation of sustainable membranes and filters produced from food waste. Expected results and effects:

Bio-based filters and membranes will be produced from fungal microfibers. Implementation of fungal filters and membranes in healthcare products and water purification is a sustainable solution to address environmental concerns of the existing petroleum based products. Fungal microfibers will be obtained by growing of fungi on fruit and vegetable waste.

Conversion of food waste to filters and membranes is an effective process for re-using, value-creation, and reducing the environmental and economic concerns regarding extensive waste generation in the society. Approach and implementation:

Filamentous fungi will be grown on fruit and vegetable waste and the products will be used for development of porous filters and membranes. We aim at implementation of the production processes to the existing infrastructure in the textile and paper industries to facilitate the uptake of the fungal membranes and filters in the society. The fungal membranes will be used for removing of contaminants from wastewater as well as wine clarification . The filters will be evaluated for being used in face-masks.