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The CRITT Bois and the UMR BBF led the CLEANWOOD project, funded by the Carnot Institutes 3BCar and Icéel. The objective of this exploratory project was to identify promising fungal strains for the mycoremediation of creosote-treated wood. To this end, more than 40 strains (from various taxonomic groups) from the CIRM-CF collection (www.cirm-fungi.fr) and already studied for their ability to degrade recalcitrant molecules were tested for (i) their growth capacity in Solid-State Fermentation (SSF) on freshly creosoted wood models, and (ii) their ability to simultaneously degrade the PAHs contained in these woods. Among these strains, five proved to be very promising and require further studies. Building on the CLEANWOOD project, we are proposing the fundamental research project “MYCOREM” to deepen and share fundamental knowledge on the mechanisms of creosote degradation by fungi.
The MYCOREM project defined four objectives:
To develop the mycoremediation method using Solid-State Fermentation (SSF) on end-of-life creosote-treated industrial wood,
To understand the molecular mechanisms involved in the degradation of complex PAH mixtures,
To assess the effectiveness of mycoremediation on end-of-life creosote-treated industrial wood,
To test valorization pathways for detoxified wood (mycomaterials and particle boards)
The aim is to obtain standardized methodologies for the preparation of suitable inocula and inoculation procedures, as well as operational conditions for conducting SSF and samples of creosote-treated wood colonized by fungal strains for subsequent analyses.
To establish a list of creosote degradation products identified after fungal action, along with an ecotoxicological assessment of the detoxification process by SSF on creosote-treated wood.
These results will include quantitative analyses of three polymers (cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin), a proposed valorization pathway, and a comparative life-cycle assessment of railway sleepers, considering the possibility of material recycling and thus an extended service life.
Budget : 403 899 euros
Ademe Subsidies : 300 000 euros
