Orientated Investigation to kill the mycelia of the Dry Rot Fungus,

Serpula lacrymans, with microwaves

M.A. Merle Strätling1 . Prof. Dr. Wibke Unger2 Prof. Dr. Karin Petersen3

1
National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design, Oslo, Norway
2
University of Applied Sciences, Eberswalde, Germany
3
University of Applied Sciences and Arts, Hildesheim, Germany

Abstract
The Serpula lacrymans is one of the most important wood decay fungi in buildings. Chemical and physical
methods of treatment have been used in the past. In a Masters thesis at the University of Hildesheim the
possibility of a thermal treatment using microwaves was investigated. Infected wet and dry pinewood samples
were exposed in an open system to microwave fields (at a frequency of 2.45 GHz). Here different kinds of
radiations were used for various lengths of time up to temperatures of 50°C. It was concluded that the tested
methods are not suitable for the treatment of sensitive wooden artefacts.

Introduction
The dry rot fungus Serpula lacrymans (Wulfen: Fr.) Schroeter holds a special notoriety in the built
environment due to its vitality, its very destructive potential and the huge costs involved in rectifying
the damage caused.

The German Industrial Standards, under DIN 68800-4, recommend infected buildings are treated by
eliminating the source of moisture, generously removing all visibly affected areas, and applying a
chemical protecting agent. In the case of historic buildings with valuable works of art, like painted
wooden beams, polychrome panelling or carvings, and furnishings, such a form of intervention would
be very harmful and certainly contradict the ethical demand to preserve as much as possible of the
original substance. For infected timber that has to remain in the installation position, or can not be
removed due to its heritage value, the German DIN 68800-4 gives the option to treat the fungi with
special physical technology, provided that you can guarantee that you kill all the wood-destroying
organisms.

The existing physical possibilities of killing the dry rot fungus were all been based on heat,
particularly treatment with warm air. Treatment with electromagnetic waves has been established so
far only in Denmark. The reasons for the comparatively limited application in Germany are due to the
little knowledge about usage, physical effects, advantages and also disadvantages. Furthermore the
little scientific research that exists does not provide a sufficient basis to make an assessment

From a technical viewpoint the treatment of brickwork, cement, concrete or clay with microwaves is
unproblematic, as long as this does not involve walls that are several metres thick and which can not
be heated up due to the limited depth of microwave penetration. Usually it is possible, depending on
the dielectric permittivity, to heat the materials up to 60°C relatively quickly. However, with wood
there is not much experience and most companies do not even treat it. To great is the danger of
damage in the form of cracks, leaking resin, or damage to the transparent coating or paint.
Furthermore, the heating with microwaves is due to the electromagnetic field distribution very
inhomogeneous and that is why you have to anticipate high differences in temperatures.

1
Concerning disinfection, the literature indicates various lethal temperatures for the mycelia of Serpula
lacrymans, depending on the experimental set-ups [1]. Within the scope of experiments with heat
coming from outside, the temperature and duration time goes from 17 hours at 35 - 37°C until 15
minutes at 40 - 60°C. According to the latest insights by HUCKFELDT [2] at least 65 - 70°C are
needed to kill the mycelia effectively. Conspicuously lower temperatures were reported from
experiments with microwave treatments. BECH-ANDERSEN & ANDERSEN [3] needed only 10 min
at 37°C to kill surface mycelia in small diameter glass tubes and KJERULF-JENSEN & KOCH [4]
reported that 40 - 50°C was appropriate for infected sawdust. In both cases the temperature had to be
reached but not to be maintained. Smaller test series in the scope of a research project at the University
of Applied Sciences and Arts in Hildesheim achieved the result of a lethal temperature around 35 -
40°C [5]. The treatment with a pulsed microwave system could reduce the lethal temperature even
further down to 25 - 27°C. During both methods of treatment the microwave exposition time was not
longer than 20 mins.

So far the results gained through microwave treatments have shown the possibility to deal with a
method which offers a low lethal temperature, despite known difficulties and risks. According to this it
seemed to be reasonable to confirm these results in the scope of a Master thesis at the University of
Applied Sciences and Arts in Hildesheim [6], readapted to more practical demands with a changed
experimental set-up.

Aim of the experiments

The aim of the experiments was to find a cautious method of treatment with a low lethal temperature.
Low temperatures result in a homogeneous heat distribution, on the surface as in the cross-section,
alter the wood moisture less, cause low vapour pressure, reduce stress for the object and cause less
danger of damage. Furthermore special attention was paid to the following questions:

• How long must the object be treated and how high must the temperature be raised to kill the
mycelia?
• Do different kinds of radiations have different effects, like permanent treatment, interval
treatment or pulsed treatment?
• Are there differences in the lethal temperature depending on the activity of the fungus?
• Does the humidity of the wood have an influence?

Experiment
About 75 cultures were cultivated in advance, with mycelia of the dry rot fungus. When they had
grown 1250 small sterilised wooden coniferous blocks were put into the Petri dishes and on the
mycelia. For each type of radiation, test and activity three parallels were prepared. Every parallel
attempt consisted of four samples to assess the disinfection, two samples to check the vitality with
BacLight™ and growth, and two samples for microscopy and determination of the wood humidity
before and after treatment.

When the blocks were colonised and penetrated with mycelia I dried half of the samples to a wood
humidity around 18% above salt solutions, to get living but inactive mycelia into a passive state. The
second half of the samples with active mycelia and a wood humidity around 80% was directly treated
with microwaves. Therefore an open microwave system from a Swiss company was used that worked
with a frequency of 2.45 GHz and 1000 W output power [7].

2
Fig. 1: Microwave system from the Swiss company Service-Partner with all Fig. 2 (above) and fig. 3
components used in the experiments: Energy supply unit (A), remote (beneath): Infected wooden
control (B), microwave radiator (C), clock timer (D), frame (E) samples during the incubation
time and microwave treatment

The different tested radiations were:

1. Permanent treatment, where microwave treatment was held throughout the whole test until
temperatures of up 25, 30, 40 and 50°C were reached.
2. Interval treatment, where the temperatures of around 25, 30 and 40°C were hold over a time
limit from 10 to 30 mins through a manually operated system. Behind this treatment was the
idea that the lethal temperature can be reduced by extending the duration time.
3. Pulsed treatment. In this case the microwave system automatically pulsed every 5, 10 and 15
seconds. The treatment duration was 15, 30 and 60 mins. In these test series we wanted to
stress the cells and to see if killing of the mycelia was based on athermic effects, or not.

The control of the temperatures and the assessment of the heat distribution were carried out with an
IR-camera. Right after the microwave treatment the blocks were transferred to fresh malt nutrient agar.
After a following incubation time of 6 to 8 weeks the assessment of the disinfection took place on the
basis of new mycelia growth.

Results
The permanent microwave treatment of the active mycelia had neither at 25°C nor at 30°C a
disinfecting effect. The first inhibiting temperatures which caused a retardant growth after three or
four weeks were around 40°C. But to kill substrate mycelia, temperatures of 50°C and higher were
needed.
Both holding a temperature up to 40°C for 30 mins, and the pulsed treatment of active mycelia caused
only an inhibited reaction but no disinfection.
Concerning the testing of dry samples with inactive mycelia, it was not clear-cut as almost all of the
samples were contaminated with mould. Nevertheless, it was clear that the substrate mycelium of dry
samples was more resistant to the higher temperatures. Even temperatures of up to 55°C, which had
been high enough to kill active mycelia, were in this case ineffective. Cells performing active
metabolism reacted more on lower microwave treatments than those organisms in a passive state.

3
The humidity of the wood plays – regarding the heat distribution and warming efficiency – an
ancillary role. Dry samples were heated up as fast as wet samples were, and had comparably high
differences in their temperature distribution. With the help of an IR camera it was possible to observe
that every test had a different heat distribution. As the experimental set-ups, like the position of the
samples under the sender, the distance between samples and sender, or the distribution of the samples
in the petri dish, were always the same, predictions about the heat distribution were not possible.

It is worth noting that the differences in the temperature distribution increased with higher
temperatures. If you treat an object with microwaves and you want to have a minimum temperature
(set-point-temperature) of around 60°C you have to expect temperatures around 80°C or more in some
areas.
The observed low variations of temperature during these experiments around maximal ± 5° are caused
by the ideal experimental set-ups and the individual on and off turning of the microwave system. But
in practice the microwave systems run automatically, which means that the temperature is adjusted by
speed and length of the frame. In these cases you have expect much higher differences of
temperatures.

Fig. 4 - 6: IR- image of test DA 4 I (left), DA 4 II (middle) and DA 4 III (right) after microwave treatment of up to
50 ± 5°C. The heat distribution is inhomogeneous and unpredictable, despite comparable experimental set-ups.

It was also observed that the wood loses increasing humidity with longer periods of treatment. The
determination of the moisture content of the samples sometimes showed massive losses of moisture.
The diagram 1 below shows the wood moisture before and after interval treatment. You can see that
the wood moisture decreases with rising temperature and duration. Already after 20 minutes of heating
at 30°C the moisture fell to half. Extreme moisture loss was caused with 30 mins at 40°C. After
treatment the samples in these series possessed only a moisture content of 2%, which is almost kiln-
dried.
Comparable drying tendencies showed the tests with permanent and pulsed microwave treatment. In
these test series the wood moisture clearly fell with increasing time duration, even when the surface
temperature rise was marginal. Noticeable was, that the duration of the pulse (5, 10 or 15 seconds) had
no influence on the moisture change.

4
 20

moisture content (%) wooden humidity

15
before treatment
wooden humidity
10 after treatment

0
up up up up up up up up up
to to to to to to to to to
25 25 25 30 30 30 30 40
40
± ± ± ± ± ± ± ±±
5° 5° 5° 5°
5° 5° 5° 5° 5°
C ,h C
,h ,h C ,h C C ,h C ,h C ,h C , h C, h
old old old old old old old old old
te te te te te te te te te
m m m m m m m m m
pe pe pe pe pe pe pe pe pe
ra ra ra ra ra ra ra ra ra
tu tu tu tu tu tu tu tu tu
re re re re re re re re r
st st st st st st st s t es t
ill ill ill ill ill ill ill ill i
10 20 30 10 20 30 10 2 0 ll 3 0
m m m m m m m m m
in in in in in in in in in

temperatures and duration of treatment

Diagram 1: Change of wood moisture of dry samples with mycelia in a passive state before and after interval treatment

Conclusion
To summarize, it seems possible to kill active biological structures with microwaves. But due to the
inhomogeneous heat distribution, the resulting high temperatures and the abrupt change of wood
moisture, incalculable risks of object damage can result. Possible damage could be cracks, leaking
resin and damage to the transparent coating or paint. For this reason the microwave treatment on
objects with historical value cannot be recommended.

Nevertheless, the use of microwaves would make sense when they are seen not as a combat method,
but rather as a supplementary method to dry affected parts of buildings relatively quickly and in a
environmentally friendly way and to stop the infestation this way – of course always apart from the
elimination of the humidity source. Application fields could be contaminated profane buildings,
brickwork or on localised, restricted areas which have been affected and do not have historical value.
The requirements are the inspection of the building, a conducted treatment by a professional and
experienced company and the monitoring control with the help of an IR-camera. Last but not least it is
still necessary to improve the assessment of this technology with further tests and parameters. For this
reason it would be desirable if other institutions take up this theme and continue, complete and
improve these results.

5
References
1. WTA-Merkblatt 1-2-05/D und Huckfeldt, T., Schmidt, O. (2006): Hausfäule- und Bauholzpilze.
Diagnose von Hausschwamm und anderen Holz zerstörenden Pilzen sowie Sanierung der
Schäden. Köln.
2. Huckfeldt, T., Schmidt, O. (2006): Hausfäule- und Bauholzpilze. Diagnose von Hausschwamm
und anderen Holz zerstörenden Pilzen sowie Sanierung der Schäden. Köln.
3. Bech-Andersen, J., Andersen, C. (1992): Theoretical and practical experiments with eradication of
the dry rot fungus by means of microwaves. In: 23rd International Research Group on Wood
Preservation Meeting, Harrogate, IRG/WP/1577-92.
4. Kjerulf-Jensen, C., Koch, A.P. (1992): Investigation of microwave heating as a means of
eradicating dry rot attack in buildings. International Research Group on Wood Preservation,
IRG/WP/1545.
5. Strätling, M. (2006): Abschlußbericht zum AGIP-Projekt 2003.533 „Mikrowellen zur
Desinfizierung kontaminierter Kunstobjekte- Grenzen und Möglichkeiten“ an der HAWK, FH
Hildesheim. Hildesheim. AGIP: Abkürzung für Arbeitsgruppe innovativer Projekte.
6. Strätling, M. (2007): Orientierende Untersuchungen zur Abtötung von Myzel des Echten
Hausschwamms durch Mikrowellen. Masterthesis, HAWK, FH Hildesheim. Hildesheim.
7. For more information and the company Servicepartner GmbH see: www.sandomus.ch