Progress 09/01/18 to 08/31/20
Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience for the work completed in this project are producers and sellers of low-density particle board and petroleum based rigid foams, as well as the growing number of global mycelium composite product manufacturers. Engineered wood products are wood composite materials consisting of wood particles or fibers bound by resins. These materials are ubiquitous within the structural (building and construction) and non-structural (furniture components, fixtures, cabinets, door cores) application spaces, representing a combined $8.5B market in the US alone. The engineered wood segment continues to grow as a low-cost alternative to solid wood furniture, spurred by the expanding middle class. Despite the demand, increasing costs of resins, and the stalling housing market following the 2008 financial crisis caused much of the US engineered wood supply to come from international sources, even as American mills operated under capacity and began to close. While these engineered wood imports, mostly from southeast Asia, are more cost competitive, they have garnered significant concern for regulators, due to poor supplier control leading to interior products which on some occurrences have exceed regulatory standards for interior air quality. The predominant resin system in conventional engineered wood is urea formaldehyde (UF), a known human carcinogen, which off gases toxic volatile compounds post-production, and represents a significant risk to indoor air quality in interior applications. American companies such as Lumber liquidators have been fined significantly for their lack of supply chain oversight, which led to providing interior flooring products which utilized higher than prescribed levels of UF resin. These non-compliance events have led to legislative initiatives at state (California Air Resource Board), national (Environmental Protection Agency) and international (European Commission on the Environment) levels to phase out urea formaldehyde resins, and replace with a safe, sustainable alternative. Low Density (LD) particle boards are classified by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) as 30-35 lb/ft3 final product density. LD boards are particularly dangerous in regard to indoor air quality because as product density decreases, a higher proportion of resin is required to effectively bind the wood particles. Engineered wood products as a whole contain between 7% and 12% UF resin by final product mass. Ecovative Design combines agricultural or woody substrate with mushroom mycelium to create mushroom composite materials which are durable, compostable, and contain no urea formaldehyde resins. Ecovative's existing commercial products in the composites space are approximately 7 lb/ft^3 and are limited in size to approximately .5ft^3. These products are currently sold in the protective packaging industry as a replacement for expanded polystyrene (Styrofoam). In the past two years, Ecovative has developed a novel manufacturing system called the Aerated Bed Reactor, a solid-state fermentation bioreactor which allows for manufacturing of 1m^3 blocks of mycelium composite materials, with potential expansion in the X and Y dimensions. This technology has enabled Ecovative to develop an alternative to low density particle boards, which boasts a higher strength to weight ratio than conventional LD boards, and because of the unique mycelium binding component, has best in class acoustic and flame-resistant properties. Due to the value adding properties inherent to the mycelium composite, Ecovative intends to bring this new technology to market initially as an acoustic panel product. The comparatively high margin and low volume within the acoustics market makes it an ideal entry point into the low-density particle board market as a whole. Ecovative is currently in communication with several parties interested in large mycelium composite panels for a variety of applications, including in the fire door, acoustics, protective packaging, and building and construction applications. These interested parties are located in the North American, European, and Oceania regions. Ecovative's mycelium-based composites provide additional value adding characteristics which increase the market potential of large flat stock mycelium composite panels. Because mycelium is naturally hydrophobic, these large panels are also buoyant, and have garnered interest from the wetland restoration and aquaponics industries as a potential replacement for expanded polystyrene foam products as plant cultivation rafts. Finally, the manufacturing system developed through this workplan, the Bulk Bin Reactor (BBR) system, provides a modular, low capital method for producing myceliated substrates for a wide variety of products. This process presents a unique opportunity for the growing list of prospective licensees of Ecovative's mycelium biomaterial production processes to begin commercial efforts using Ecovative's biotechnology with fewer upfront financial hurdles, and grow organically with sales while building their market. Ecovative will reach these audiences by providing samples for prospective end use customers within the protective packaging (blocking and bracing), interior products (acoustic panels), and ecological restoration and aquaculture (cultivation rafts) industries. Changes/Problems:In Q2 of 2020,the COVID-19 pandemic temporarily disrupted the raw material supply chain, leading to unscheduled downtime for BBR operations at Ecovative licensee Paradise Packaging, in Paradise California. The production standard substratesourced from NEPCO, located in Warrensburg New York, was being supplied to the Paradise California team during the production validation process, to eliminate any variability caused by the use of unvalidated substrates. When the substrate became unavailable, Paradise packaging used this opportunity topause formal production validation, and instead locatea supplier of a similar material in their local area. Aspen chips from American Wood Fiber (AWF), located in Olivehurst California were testedas an alternative to standard NEPCOmaterials. After preliminary studies, the use of AWF aspen chips was linked to poor strength performance, and was ultimately eliminated from contention as an alternative substrate. Although this logistical issue delayed the production validation of Paradise Packagingby one month, once completed, it was determined that Paradise Packaging was able to produce BBR panels which fell within the intended strength metrics in 5 consecutive starndard production runs. After passing validation, Paradise Packaging was able to actively produce materials for external testing, and for circulation to external customers. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?As a key deliverable within this workplan, Ecovative developed a set of internal Standard Operating Procedures (SOP's) which were used as training materials for four of Ecovative's R&D Operators, one Research Technician, and one Research Intern. As part of their professional development, R&D Operators were an integral part of developinng these methods, as well as documenting them in formal SOP's. These SOP's were then expanded into a comprehensive technology transfer package, intended as onboarding materials for new licensees of the BBR technology. These documents contained all relevant information required to successfully manufacturing BBR panels, including background information about proper handling of mycelium composite materials, manuals for all internally designed equipment, and facility specifications required to support BBR operations and cultivation. This technology transfer package was utilized for onboarding of Ecovative's first BBR technology licensee, Paradise Packaging, of Paradise CA, and was used to train four production operators who were tasked with supporting this project. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The results of this workplan have been disseminated to communities of interest through shipment of test samples to prospective customers, technology licensees, and academic groups. The diversity of these groups represents the numerous potential use cases which leverage the innate technical capabilities of Mycocomposite materials, and recognize a range of commercial interests for Mycofoam panels as a product, as well as the BBR system as a production process for mycelium based biomaterials. Included within the list of interested parties are large scale manufacturers The Kingspan Group, a $4.4 Billion/ year insulation manufacturing based in Ireland; and Gabriel, a $90 Million/year fabrics manufacturer located in Toronto Ontario, and Michigan, with commercial interests in the acoustic panels market. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
During the first 12 months of the work plan, Ecovative successfully reduced the cost of goods sold (COGS) of their mycelium composite panels (Mycofoam) as well as the capital investment required to onboard new licensed manufacturers for their mycelium composite platform. Ecovative enabled significant cost reductions to the inoculation and filling process, the first stage of production, by identifying a new substrate source which eliminated the need for the expensive and labor intensive substrate pasteurization process. This Aspen shavings substrate was sourced from NEPCO, of Warrensburg NY, who sells the product as animal bedding. Instead of utilizing a slow and energy intensive continuous pasteurization system, Ecovative instead increased the amount of inoculum added to the substrate blend, and mixed the substrate, water, and inoculum in two batches in a soil mixer. This process eliminated the need for heat pasteurization of the substrate prior to inoculation, and reduced the total processing time for filling (including cleaning) by approximately 50%. Additionally, this process change reduced the labor requirement for the filling process from 3 operators, to 1, therefore reducing filling labor by approximately 75%. Ecovative also utilized the soil mixer to streamline the regrind process in which woody substrates which had been previously colonized with mycelium are broken up, and nutrified to accelerate the growth process, and enable production of a strong panel product. By replacing the previous equipment, a substrate trommel, with the top loaded soil mixer, Ecovative was able to load substrate using a fork truck, removing the manual pitchfork loading step. The soil mixer also increased the batch capacity of the regrind process, decreasing the number of batches required to fill a BBR by 80%. Again, by reducing the number of regrind operators from 2 to 1 and decreasing processing time, Ecovative was able to lower total labor expense for this process by 66%. Finally, Ecovative installed a band saw-mill to streamline the panel harvesting process at the end of growth. This band saw-mill was altered by Ecovative's engineering team to include an electronic drive system and was used to rapidly produce 2" slabs of Mycofoam. While it did not decrease the number of operators required to complete this process, this equipment upgrade reducing processing time by 25% In total, these equipment upgrades and process improvements, less the increased cost of inoculum required for elimination of the pasteurization step, reduce the cost of goods sold for Mycofoam panels by 41%. In addition to avoiding utility overhead and labor costs, eliminating the need for pasteurization also reduced the capital requirements for standing up a Mycofoam production facility significantly be replacing the $500K pasteurizer with a $14K soil mixer, lowering the financial hurdle for licensee onboarding by $486K. In addition to lower capital requirements for standing up licensees, and lower COGS of finished panel products, Ecovative also achieved significantly increased in the mechanical performance of their panels by designing a new BBR growth system. Using an internally designed and fabricated growth system which evenly distributes conditioned air throughout the substrate, Ecovative was able to bolster composite strength, increasing the average flexural module of Grade A panels from 1400 psi at the onset of the workplan, to an average of nearly 2800psi. This strength increase opened new potential markets for Mycofoam panels, as low density structural panels for temporary constructions. Ecovative captured these process improvement as internal SOPs, and then adapted these documents for external use as a technology transfer package. This tech transfer package included all relevant information needed to successfully manufacture Mycocomposite materials, as well as specific and detailed process descriptions for all BBR processes, operations manuals for all BBR equipment, and facilities requirements for BBR manufacturing. In Q3 of 2019, Meeks and McIntyre began seeking the projects initial licensee. For the projects first licensee, the team required three criteria for acceptance; the capability to support ongoing research and development efforts, production experience and commercial potential within one year of project onboarding, and a current facility that would support the specifications detailed in the technology transfer document. After fielding a number of candidates, Ecovative signed a licensing agreement with Paradise packaging, of Paradise California. Mcore team lead Dan Meeks and team engineer Brad Johnson traveled to Paradise to in Q1 of 2019 to design an operations floor plan, install equipment and train the Paradise operations team. At the completion of the two-week on-site training and onboarding program, Ecovative led the production validation process, in which Paradise independently completed 8consecutive production runs. These panels were sampled and mechanically tested at Ecovative's facility to ensure they met product standards. This validation process was the final stage gate prior to providing materials for commercial sales, external testing, or for direct circulation to attract additional licensees. Results of this validation process indicated that not only had Paradise achieved the goal of 5consecutive to-specification production runs, but the new facility had in fact outperformed expected strength metrics. In Q2 of 2020, Ecovative shipped test panels to Riverbank Acoustical labs, in Geneva IL, where Mycofoam panels were tested using ASTM C423 to determine the materials sound absorption at normal speaking frequencies. Ecovative's previous Mycofoam samples, completed in 2018, scored an NRC of 0.9, meaning that 90% of speaking frequencies were absorbed. Upon this second round of testing, Ecovative achieved an NRC of 0.7 (70% of sound absorbed). The increased strength achieved by new manufacturing processes developed throughout the workplan had created materials that were stiffer and therefore more resonant. This trade-off between strength and acoustic dampening was a necessary adjustment to ensure that Mycofoam materials were durable enough for fixtures and wall mounting, and NRC 0.7 is comparable with many wall-hanging acoustic products. At QAI, Mycofoam panels were tested for flame spread and smoke generation to determine the materials readiness for internal applications. During previously conducted E84 tests in 2018, Ecovative received a "No Rating" because the flame overran the test span. During testing conducted in Q3 of 2020, Ecovative improved this score to a Class C fire rating, meeting class A requirements for smoke generation with a score of 25, and receiving a flame spread score of 80, just above the Class B threshold of 76. In addition to acquiring initial licensed manufacturing partners, Ecovative also fulfilled sample requests and completed low volume commercial sales to customers in a number of industries. Ecovative provided samples to multiple organizations seeking to utilize Mycofoam panels as floating rafts, leveraging the hydrophobic properties of mycelium to create compostable floating panels for plant cultivation. This included Green Futures Labs at the University of Washington (wetland restoration rafts), Volterra of Barcelona, Spain (aquaculture rafts), and the US Navy Seaborne Targets Branch (compostable floating targets). Acoustic panel samples were sent to Gabriel, of Toronto, ON, a $90M/year interiors company with a growing business in acoustic paneling, and Kingspan, an insulation manufacturerbased in Ireland interested in using the material as protective packaging.
Publications
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2019
Citation:
Hyde, K.D., Xu, J., Rapior, S. et al. Fungal Diversity (2019) 97: 1. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13225-019-00430-9
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Progress 09/01/18 to 08/31/19
Outputs
Target Audience:Engineered wood products are wood composite materials consisting of wood particles/fibers bound by resins. These materials are ubiquitous within both the structural (building and construction) and non-structural (furniture components, fixtures, cabinets, door cores) application spaces, representing a combined $8.5B market in the US alone. Engineered wood products have become the low-cost alternative to traditionally solid wood products, and are projected to continue to increase in domestic and global market share with the growth of the global middle class. Despite this, increasing resin costs and the decline in US building and construction beginning in 2008 led to 16 of the American non-structural engineered wood mills to close. With the rebound of the housing market (5.6% annual growth), domestic companies are struggling to meet rising demand and most are operating at less than 75% capacity. The US is currently a net importer of engineered wood, which is predominately seen in the $1.09B deficit of non-structural boards used in furniture and cabinet applications. To fill this market need, the U.S. market has turned to southeast Asia for production of non-structural engineered wood products. The resin system that is used in the vast majority of engineered wood products is Urea Formaldehyde. Urea Formaldehyde resin is a known human carcinogen, which emits toxic volatile compounds post-production, and represents a significant risk to indoor air quality in interior applications. Imported materials from Southeast Asia, however, have occasionally failed to meet regulatory requirements for formaldehyde emissions, which has led to recalls over human health concerns and detrimental impacts on some American businesses (Lumber Liquidators). To address this, regulatory pressures have mounted at state (California Air Resource Board), national (Environmental Protection Agency) and international (European Commission on the Environment) levels to phase out urea formaldehyde resins, and replace with a safe, sustainable alternative. LD particle boards are classified by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) as 30-35 lb/ft3 final product density. LD boards are particularly dangerous in regard to indoor air quality because as product density decreases, a higher proportion of resin is required to effectively bind the wood particles. Engineered wood products as a whole contain between 7% and 12% UF resin by final product mass. Ecovative Design combines agricultural or woody substrate with mushroom mycelium to create mushroom composite materials which are durable, compostable, and contain no urea formaldehyde resins. Ecovative's existing commercial products in the composites space are approximately 7 lb/ft3 and are limited in size to approximately .5ft3. These products are currently sold in the protective packaging industry as a replacement for expanded polystyrene (Styrofoam). In the past two years, Ecovative has developed a novel manufacturing system called the Aerated Bed Reactor, a solid-state fermentation bioreactor which allows for manufacturing of 1m3 blocks of mycelium composite materials, with potential expansion in the X and Y dimensions. This technology has enabled Ecovative to develop an alternative to low density particle boards, which boasts a higher strength to weight ratio than conventional LD boards, and because of the unique mycelium binding component, has best in class acoustic and flame-resistant properties. Due to the value adding properties inherent to the mycelium composite, Ecovative intends to bring this new technology to market initially as an acoustic panel product. The comparatively high margin and low volume within the acoustics market makes it an ideal entry point into the low-density particle board market as a whole. Ecovative is currently in communication with several parties interested in large mycelium composite panels for a variety of applications, including in the fire door, acoustics, protective packaging, and Building and Construction industries. These interested parties are located in the North American, European, and Oceania regions. Changes/Problems:Ecovative has accelerated its technology transfer timeline to enable its first commercial operator of the Bilk Bin Reactor (BBR) technology. Ecovative is currently negotiating terms for a licensing agreement and physical technology transfer with Paradise Packaging, a current licensee of Ecovative's composite technology for protective packaging. In early 2020, Ecovative intends to initiate the official technology transfer process with a document handoff and training period at Paradises facility in Paradise, California. Through their partnership with Paradise, Ecovative will gain increased research capacity and prototype manufacturing throughput, as well as solidifying an early partnership for future Joint Development Agreement (JDA) or licensed manufacturing. In this partnership, Paradise will generate material for external testing for flame spread and acoustic properties, as well as for seeding interested parties within various market spaces with samples. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Training and professional development has been provided to R&D Operators through internal directives to ensure operational excellence in a research environment, including training on observation and documentation, and scientific decision-making. Biological science specific training sessions have been provided to this community through Sue Van Hook, former professor of Mycology at Skidmore College. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Results from this work plan have been disseminated to communities of interest through sample shipment of prototype panels to interest parties in the U.S. as well as the EU and New Zealand. This has significant early interest in both Mycofoam as an acoustic product, as well as the BBR process as a general biomaterials manufacturing system. Interested parties include The Kingspan Group, a $4.4 Billion/year insulation manufacturer based in Ireland; and Gabriel, $90Million/year fabrics manufacturer with interests in the acoustic panels space, and manufacturing facilities located in Michigan and Toronto. Further dissemination of results will occur in the second half of the work plan through attending industry events and leveraging the LARTA network to connect with other interested parties within these industries. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?After completion of the Xbar-s chart for the current Standard Operating Procedure, Ecovative's BBR team will continue producing prototype materials to seed the acoustic and particleboard industries and attract potential licensees, as well as to validate material properties with materials manufactured using the new standard operating materials through external testing partners. These tests will include ASTM E84 testing for smoke generation and flame spread, as well as ASTM C423 testing for sound reverberation. Proving these metrics will be crucial to success within the acoustics market. In addition to certifying key performance metrics for the current SOP, the BBR team will continue conducting internal product development for the purpose of decreasing CoGS for the BBR manufacturing process, improving consistency and performance of existing products, and unlocking new product opportunities. Ecovative will use existing SOPs and experimental documentation to generate a technology transfer package which contains all critical information for manufacturing using the BBR system. This package will first be written in a generic format and will subsequently be updated and altered to match the needs of (Joint Development Agreement (JDA) or licensing partners up signing of a contract. This document will be based on an SOP which has an associated Xbar-s graph such that results of the licensing partner can be directly compared to internal numbers for accurate assessment of technology transfer success. Ecovative is currently in the process of qualifying a licensing partner for the BBR technology and have subsequently accelerated our technology transfer timeline to prepare for transfer in early 2020.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
During the first 12 months of this work plan, Ecovative has focused its efforts on improving manufacturing equipment and practices and training an R&D Operations staff to support research goals and prototype production. These efforts have resulted in a marked increase in final product quality, as well as increased manufacturing processes efficiency, cumulatively resulting in a 25% decrease in cost of goods sold (CoGS). Equipment upgrades were undertaken to improve workflow and decrease handling time during manufacturing processing steps. These included installation and adoption of the soil mixer, which has decreased loading and mixing times by reducing the number of batches required to for a single bin by 80%. More recently, engineering support staff to the BBR team designed and installed a custom lift for the soil mixer, so that materials can be dispensed directly from the soil mixer into BBR growth bins. This change has enabled a single operator manufacturing process for both the filling and regrind process steps, further reducing CoGS. A band sawmill was purchased at the end of Phase I in an effort the automate the extraction and panel production process. During Phase II, this bandsaw mill was installed on a custom fabricated track and outfitted with an electric motor and control pendant which automates blade height adjustment and forward/backward tracking. The BBR team is currently testing blades to determine the optimal tooth shape, size and blade geometry for cutting BBR panels. Additionally, significant design alterations were made to the BBR growth system, including designing a new integrated bin and plenum system which has improved final product quality, eliminated the use of disposable bin liners, and has been fitted with components which enable handling using a fork truck, significantly decreasing processing time. In addition to processing and growth equipment optimization, the team was able to validate systemic process changes to the BBR manufacturing system, including adoption of a non-sterile manufacturing process. Non-sterile manufacturing bypasses the substrate pasteurization process, and instead simply hydrates and inoculates substrate in the soil mixer. This represents a $500,000 capital expense savings for future licensees, as well as additional operational expenses savings due to energy savings. This process change was enabled in part through substrate selection. Aspen Shavings, was the first substrate that has been found to be compatible with the non-sterile manufacturing process, has unique anti-microbial properties, and is also sold as laboratory lab bedding due to the consistency of the product. In recent small-scale experimentation, Aspen Chip has also been successfully myceliated in a non-sterile growth system, however implementation at scale remains an unknown entity due to higher metabolic heat generation associated with growth on Aspen Chip substrate. Research & Development Operator training has been an extensive undertaking to onboard new employees onto the BBR team, as well as to elevate current employees from production operations to R&D operations roles. Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) as equipment changes and process improvements have been undertaken. Since the onset of the grant, the BBR team has a total of 5 new team members, including one summer intern. To facilitate this project onboarding process, Principal Investigator Dan Meeks designed a comprehensive training protocol designed to use experiential learning to quickly achieve independent operation. This training process includes 4 stages; (1) Project overview and safety, (2) Passive training with certified personnel, (3) active training as secondary operator to certified personnel, (4) independent operation with post process check-in with process owner. This process has been successful in limiting human error based failures during R&D operations. Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) writing and maintenance has been a large undertaking for the BBR team, as there are significant safety and Critical to Quality (CTQ) considerations regarding the BBR process which much be accurately but concisely documented. In addition to generating formal SOP's, R&D operators have been tasked with developing process checklists for BBR processes and Operations manuals for BBR equipment to ensure that adequate documentation is provided for future hires, and future development partners. SOP's generated through this effort will be leveraged in the latter half of the Phase II workplan as Tech Transfer documents for the first licensees of the BBR technology. As Technology Transfer documents, these SOP's will enable licensees to manufacture using the BBR system and will be utilized as training material to facilitate this transition. Following adoption of new equipment and processes, and subsequent training of R&D personnel, Ecovative began developing QA-QC measures to ensure an accurate baseline for comparison in R&D efforts. Because of the physical scale of any single BBR bin, true replication is not practical. It is therefore important to generate a reliable historical strength baseline for comparison of the control and experimental bin. The BBR team has begun to develop a Xbar-s chart to define the expected flexure strength and variance in the BBR. This chart is developed from a minimum of 5 identical BBR runs, after which it becomes a living document, collecting and comparing average strength from each BBR bin to assess the consistency of bins over time, as well as any type of drift that might occur as additional process changes are implemented.
Publications
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2019
Citation:
Hyde, K.D., Xu, J., Rapior, S. et al. Fungal Diversity (2019) 97: 1. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13225-019-00430-9
|