Carbon footprint assessment of a novel bamboo-mycelium composite for building insulation

Abstract

To respond to the climate-neutrality goals set by the European Green Deal, this master thesis explores the potential of carbon removal from the development of a novel bio-composite insulation, based on the combination of a mycelium binder with bamboo particles. On one side, bamboo fibers were selected since bamboo cultivation is becoming a new promising business in Europe which can create new market opportunities based on the activation of local supply-chains. Moreover, bamboo is able to mature in few years, and a large amount of CO2 can be sequestered during its growth and stored in construction products when harvested and processed. On the other side, the mycelium, the vegetative part and the root structure of fungi, is able to partially degrade and naturally bind the fibers with three-dimensional filamentous network and provide fire-retardancy to the lightweight component. First, an attributional life cycle assessment (LCA) is performed to define the carbon footprint of the composite material and its attitude to remove the CO2 along its lifecycle. In this stage, data used to estimate the Global Worming Potential (GWP) will be mainly collected from companies involved in this study. Secondly, a dynamic LCA with a selected end of life scenario for the bio-composite is set up to estimate the avoided impact coming from material upcycling. Finally, a building wall application is performed in order to evaluate the climate-neutrality potential though a wide implementation of the novel technology in the market.