Anti-Fungal Properties Of Iron Compound-Rich Electric Are Furnace (Eaf) Slag

• Main Author: Dalila Alia Binti Mohd Ruslim
• Format: Undergraduate Final Project Report
• Published: 2022
• Online Access: http://discol.umk.edu.my/id/eprint/14626/

Electric Arc Furnace (EAF) slag is a by-product generated during low-carbon steel refining, has increased throughout the year. Only a few EAF slag is being utilized for construction applications, and the remaining were stockpiled without full utilization. Iron compound is a significant component in EAF slag that has great potential to carry anti-fungal properties. EAF slag rich with iron compound can be utilized and be an alternative to the anti-fungal agent for wood products. Therefore, this project aims to determine the suitability of iron compound-rich EAF (obtained from Malaysia's steel manufacturer) slag as an anti-fungal agent, that the inhibition zone of brown rot and white rot fungi were investigated. For the anti-fungal assay, potato dextrose agar (PDA) was used as media to culture the brown rot (Coniophora puteana) and white rot (Lentinus Sajor-caju) fungi. Then, the EAF slag powder was placed surrounding rot fungi to observe the inhibition zone for 30 days. The anti-fungal assay, EAF slag was also compared to synthetic iron compounds such as pure Fe, Fe2O3, and Fe304 were observed. The EAF slag was also characterized using X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) to identify the phases present. The fundamental of this experiment is to find what phases exist in EAF slag that works excellent on inhibiting the growth of rot fungi. From this experiment, EAF slag shows no inhibition zone towards brown rot and white rot fungi. However, pure Fe2O3 and Fe shows the most significant influenced on the inhibition zone towards brown and white rot fungi growth, respectively, on day-30 of the fungal assay. It shows that the EAF slag has no significant influenced on rot fungi as the inorganic agent to protect the wood from brown rot and white rot fungi attack. Keywords: EAF Slag, Iron Compound, Anti-fungal, Brown Rot Fungi, White Rot Fungi