It is a large bag of fungi that grows in the chemistry room at Procivita’s private high school in Helsingborg. In the bag, pellets along with brown oyster slicing are covered in white lint.
– We put the mixture from the fungus in silicone molds and pull away all the water in drying cabinets, says Rebecka Samuelson, who is in the third at the high school.
Want to revolutionize the industry
Together with classmates Evelina Nguyen and Susanna Muszynska, she is a finalist in the research championship. The final will be held in Södertälje in April this year and is Sweden’s largest competition in science for high school students.
– It is the mycelium from the fungus that we use and that becomes hard in texture. We wanted to create an environmentally friendly building material, ”says Evelina Nguyen.
For the girls, however, the most important thing is not to win the competition but to find an environmentally smart alternative to the rough concrete. The method is also something that the construction industry is testing. Concrete production emits large amounts of carbon dioxide during manufacturing.
– We want to take it further and revolutionize the construction industry, says Susanna Muszynska.