Sustainable Material: Development Experiment of Bamboo Composite Through Biologically Binding Mechanism

Bamboo as stems have been widely manufactured for composite. However, fiber as the smallest constituent component of bamboo stems supporting the strength and flexibility of the plant has not been widely employed as raw material. These strong and flexible properties, coupled with easy planting treatment and fast harvesting, apparently make bamboo highly potential developed as sustainable raw material for composite. Unfortunately, the current manufacturing process of bamboo for composite by using chemical substances would have ended bamboo up as no longer environmentally friendly. By utilizing lignocellulose content within its fiber, this research studied fabrication of a novel composite boards from bamboo fibers through biologically binding mechanism by using fungal mycelium. Gigantochloa apus bamboo stems are extracted into three types: long fibers, short fibers, and powder. Then, the bamboo fibers are added with water and some additional nutritions then sterilized together. These substrates are then inoculated with mycelium seed of Ganoderma lucidum. The fibers bound together along with the growth of mycelium. The result shows that this board is potential to be used for interior purpose in building especially high rise building with high need of light-weight insulation and partition board and expected to replace the need for building components that have been made from unsustainable raw materials and methods.