Preparation of Gypsum Retarding Material and Activated Carbon from Waste Mycelium

A clean and safe process of utilizing waste penicillin mycelium (WPM) was proposed in this paper. We treated WPM by soaking it in aqueous alkaline solution, to produce retarders for hemihydrate gypsum (the protein hydrolysate) by filtration. The filter cake was used to produce activated carbon, while the waste water can be reused for soaking process. This retarder can effectively prolong the setting time of gypsum with less drop in mechanical strength of gypsum plaster. The activated carbon produced with 674 mg/g of Iodine value, which meets the requirements of general industrial applications.