Antimicrobial Efficiency of Metallurgical Slags Suitable for Construction Applications

Abstract

The chapter deals with studying antimicrobial efficiency of granulated blastfurnace slag with fineness of 340 (1Sa) and 520 m 2 /kg (1Sb), air-cooled blast-furnace slag (2S), demetallized steel slag (3S), calcareous ladle slag (4S) and copper slag (5S), respectively. The efficiency has been tested on G + bacteria-Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis, Micrococcus luteus; G − bacteria-Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli, Serratia marcescens; yeasts-Rhodotorula glutinis, Candida albicans; filamentous fungi-Penicillium funiculosum, Aspergillus niger, Alternaria alternata, Chaetomium globosum, Cladosporium herbarum, Trichoderma viride. The efficiency has been determined by dilution methods in agar media for that reason the resulting concentration of slags has been 10, 20, 40 and 60%, respectively. The antibacterial efficiency decreased as follows: S4 > S3 > S2 > S1a = S1b > S5, whereas anti-yeast efficiency decreased as follows: S4 > S1a = S1b = S3 > S2 > S5. Filamentous fungi were selectively sensitive to slags, that way there is approximate order of efficiency S4 > S3 = S1a = S1b > S5 > S2. Application of metallurgical slags into construction materials provides them increasing biodegradation resistance.