Low-Cost Evaporation Control Using Wax Impregnated Foam: Project Completion Report

Abstract

This report contains the results of a one year study to develop improved methods of evaporation control using wax impregnated foam. The foam used was expanded polystyrene and the wax used was paraffin with a 140° F melting point. The report tells of a pressure chamber that was used to wax impregnate sheets of expanded polystyrene. Based on tests made in the laboratory the pressure chamber was modified into a vacuum chamber. Problems were encountered getting the interior of the sheets impregnated using a vacuum. There was no way this problem could have been predicted based on the smaller laboratory models. The pressure method, however, was successfully used to impregnate up to 3 -inch thick sheets of expanded polystyrene. During the project it was found that the paraffin impregnated rafts worked very well until high temperatures, 100° F plus, are encountered Under dusty conditions. The heat causes the surface of the wax to get tacky, the dust darkens the otherwise white surface, which in turn captures more heat, and then more dust, etc. The high surface temperature caused an accelerated weathering of the material. Because of this, waxes with higher melting points were tried. Additional work is needed in this area as no satisfactory combinations were found. Two polyethylene copolymers with a melting point close to the 190° F destruction point of the expanded polystyrene were tested. This wax was too viscous for impregnation but provided a hard surface coating when the previously wax impregnated expanded polystyrene is dipped into the molten polyethylene wax. This dipping might be the best method for surface protection at low cost but additional testing is needed before trying the material out on a large scale. Progress was made in the development of wax impregnated lightweight concrete rafts. The wax impregnation of the lightweight raft solves the vapor penetration problem. This type of raft was found to resist removal by wind and weathered very well in the one year of testing. Connecting rafts with strips of sheet metal bonded to the expanded polystyrene was done on a small scale, and needs to be field tested. The PVC pipe C clamps work well on partially submerged rafts but need to be lengthened to interconnect wax impregnated rafts. Square wax impregnated rafts lx1 ft in size did not stay on a small test pond in high wind. Circles are presently being tried but additional testing is needed in this area before their reliability is known.