Superior Insulation Compositions in Assorted

¶ … Superior Insulation Compositions in Assorted Rocks

Mining and other industrial activities produce a ton of waste and do a wealth of environmental damage. Aside from these negative byproducts, there's a ton of wasted rock that needs to be dealt with after the mining activities are finished. Harnessing the wasted rock is a wise idea for insulation, as it offers the world a safer, more cost-effective and greener solution for a wealth of insulation needs. This paper discusses the viability of a range of natural and unnatural insulators, ultimately testing and selecting Neo-Block. The advantages of Neo-Block are highlighted, as are a few of its short-comings which are addressed and a solution offered.

Introduction and Overview

What many lay people don't understand about mining activities, is that after they're completed, much of the rock is left over. A common example of this issue, and one which is controversial as well are with mountaintop removal mines: coal companies actually take off the tops of the mountains with dynamite and earth-moving machines known as draglines, in order to uncover the coal seams (nasa.gov). "The waste rock -- the remains of the mountains -- is piled into neighboring hollows in towering earthen dams called valley fills. The largest fills can approach 800 feet in height and swallow more than a mile of streambed" (nasa.gov). In areas of the country like southern West Virginia, the practice is extremely pervasive and some of these massive mines fill an expanse of thousands and thousands of acres and still continue to grow.

The problem here is not simply one of waste and destruction to the environment. It revolves around the process of most industrial mining companies use to obtain the specific rock they need. They cut out about 5m cube and then extract the rock they need from a specific area. Once the most saturated portion of a block has been removed, all the rest are treated as garbage and thrown away or stockpiled as they are in the coal mines. Since these mountains of recyclable rocks take up so much space and resources, it is reasonable to suggest that a viable alternative would be to recycle these potentially beneficial rocks in environmentally responsible ways. The damage to the environment should not be underestimated. Downstream from these mountain mines and valley fill sites, the water quality degrades: streambeds and other bodies of water often reflect concentrations of potentially toxic elements such as nickel, lead, cadmium, iron and selenium (nasa.gov). This negatively impacts the aquatic life, forcing it to decline and compromises the integrity of surrounding forests (nasa.gov).

Rocks are still a resource, even if it's not immediately apparent. Based on professional experience in the construction industry and empirical observations concerning insulation practices, the notion occurred to this researcher that these rocks could possibly be used as an insulator.

Hypothesis

What petroleum-unrelated material would be able to take the role of the leading industrial insulator, considering the following characteristics?

Constructability

Processability

Economical

Environmental

Social

A single characteristic that all industrial insulators have in common is their layered structure. The higher the numbers of air-layers in a material, its insulating capabilities increase. And for petroleum-sourced insulator to be made with a special machine, a 20 million dollar machine that uses the difference of pressure to its advantage to create layers and layers of air bubbles, it is simply impossible for me, a student, to invest that much money into this process. However, knowing from my earlier studies, certain types of igneous rocks which have glassy texture actually have millions of volatile gas stored in itself. I think this 20 million dollar process may be replaced with an eco-friendly material based insulator making technique. Even lay people are aware of the many uses of igneous rocks: countertops, floors, tiles, landscaping, construction, sink cleanser, sandpaper (Rice & McKeown, 2008). Granite is used for buildings and monuments; granite and other rocks are crushed up into gravel and used as a foundation for concrete roads or even help create concrete (Rice & McKeown, 2008). Many of the various forms of igneous rocks help in the creation of steel or contribute to insulation. There's absolutely no reason why these rocks can't further be improved and used in a more widespread manner for insulation.

Methodology

Each prototype was made twice for them to be averaged out on each data concerning relative densities, thermal conductivity and other characteristics. Preparatory to this data analysis, the pre-experiment categorization of minerals was conducted to gain empirical observations concerning the real-world behaviours of these rocks and their associated materials. Each prototype was made through

-Powdering a mineral

-Mixing minerals

-Baking the mix at 1350 Degrees (Celsius)

Pre-Experiment

To observe how dangerous industrial insulators can be in a fire, I conducted an experiment to see the potential damage of industrial insulators to a human being.

The results of the pre-experiment are set forth in Table 1 below.

Results of Pre-Experiment: February 17, 2012 (Table 1)

Description of Activities/Findings

Today, I conducted a Combustion Exam to see how each insulator could possibly damage someone when it's on fire. Experiment was done in a fashion to differentiate reactions to fire. In these pictures, burning Styrofoam can be seen. It can be observed that large amount of toxic gas is generated as it burned over time period of 6 minutes. Its level of danger in a real fire is very high, making it a hazard to be used in ordinary houses

This is a picture of burning urethane. It can be observed that some amount of smoke is generated as the fire slowly gets smaller after the initial ignition. The fire was out once 1 minute. Its level of danger is medium-high.