Indoor Fungal Treatment by Using Potassium Sorbate as Bio-Resistance Coating for Different Plasterboard Wall Finishings

Good indoor environmental quality (IEQ) is desired for a healthy indoor environment. The microbial growth in indoor environments contribute into poor indoor environmental quality can cause various of health problems. Antimicrobial coatings are designed to generate a surface that is easy to clean and can also incorporate active agents, commonly called biocides, which prevent microbial colonization, the subsequent growth and bio-deterioration of the substrate. The aim for this study is to treat indoor environmental quality in buildings by reviewing the possible application of potassium sorbate used in food industry preservatives to be use as indoor antimicrobial. Plasterboard wall was used as a substrate to see the influence of different common wall finishing used such as paints and wallpapers on fungal growth. Potassium sorbate was tested against fungal isolated from affected room M146, FKAAS building. The total fungal counts in affected room was 806 cfu/m3. The ASTM D5590-00 standard was used to evalute fungal growth and potassium sorbate was effective to inhibit the amount of fungal growth on four common types of wall finishing used on plasterboard wall. As a result, the percentage reduction in growth between control and treatment sample were 10% on thin wallpaper, 15% on acrylic paint, 25% on glycerol-based paint and 60% on thick wallpaper.