DCU researchers use fungus and forestry waste to grow fireproof timber coatings
Ireland’s forests are a key source of renewable materials. Everything from leftover logs, sawdust, and soft and hardwood residues contain a highly valuable molecular superpower: cellulose. When broken down into microscopic fibres, this material can replace petroleum-based plastics, toxic glues, and synthetic fillers in everything from medicine tablets to food packaging.
But to get these fibres out of the wood, the current industrial process (the pulp and paper industry) relies on massive amounts of energy and fresh water, generating high carbon emissions and chemical waste.
Microscopic cell factories tackle construction industry emissions
Now, a new initiative is aiming to transform local forestry waste into high-tech, sustainable building materials using synthetic biology.
The work is part of BIOFABRICATE, a €2.69 million project funded by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM). Led by the University of Galway, the collaborative project includes Trinity College Dublin, TU Dublin, ATU, Teagasc, and Dublin City University (DCU).
While the wider project focuses on eco-friendly packaging and green pharmaceuticals, scientists at DCU are tackling the carbon footprint of the construction sector.
A DCU research team led by the School of Biotechnology's Dr Vijai Kumar Gupta, is throwing out heavy chemical processing in favour of "designer cell factories." By genetically modifying safe, everyday yeasts and moulds, the scientists train these microbes to quickly digest soft and hardwood residues like sawdust and wood chips.
Instead of generating waste, these engineered cells act as microscopic manufacturing plants that produce specialised water-repelling proteins, natural enzymes, and high-strength fungal matrices.
Solving timber's natural vulnerabilities
When harvested, these bio-molecules are blended into high-performance liquid coatings that address timber’s two greatest industrial weaknesses: flammability and moisture rot. By shielding wood with a microbially grown defense system, the project aims to create fire-retardant, moisture-resistant timber that drastically slashes the "embodied carbon" of modern buildings.
According to Dr Vijai Kumar Gupta:
“BIOFABRICATE will establish the feasibility of using proven biomolecules produced by designer microbial cell factories using agroforestry waste. The goal is to develop building coating formulations with fire-retardant and moisture-resistant properties for applications in the construction and packaging sectors. These novel bio-based coating formulations have the potential to reduce embodied carbon in construction and to explore new design concepts that are not feasible with high-carbon building materials.
“Additionally, these biomaterials can be produced locally and in a distributed manner, which could further reduce carbon emissions in the supply chain. The outcome of this work will enable the development of new building design concepts. Both the materials and the designs will be evaluated for environmental impact.”
The DCU team is also developing toxic-free, eco-friendly industrial glues by bonding captured CO2 and plant proteins with wood-waste elements like lignin, replacing the formaldehyde-heavy adhesives traditionally used in fibreboards.
Because these biological coatings and glues can be brewed in standard fermentation tanks, researchers say the technology will pave the way for a local, distributed production model, allowing forest-rich communities to manufacture high-value, green building materials right at the source of the waste.
ENDS