Materials & Tools * Food-grade 55-gallon barrels (2); 1 whole, 1 with at least 12 inches of the bottom intact * Drill with 3/8-inch bit * Jigsaw * Plexiglass * Permanent marker * Tape measure * Box of 1/4-by-1/2-inch stainless steel carriage bolts * Box of stainless steel washers * Box of Vi-inch stainless steel nuts * Aquarium-safe silicone * Wrench * 3/4-inch hole saw * 3/4-inch tap * 1/2-inch PVC male adapters (2) * 1/2-inch PVC female adapters (2) * 1 foot of 4-inch PVC pipe for media guard * Bell siphon and 1/2-inch ball valve 10 feet of 1/2-inch PVC pipe, or scraps and fittings, for inlet pipe * Submersible aquarium or pond pump, 400 gallons per hour (gph) * Gravel or
expanded clay Steps for Success
Rich reserves of natural resources of Turkmenistan make it possible to increase the production of
expanded clay, the main component for which is argillite extracted at the Yagman deposit in the Balkan region.
In this perspective, several authors (Vigoderis et al., 2007; Riangvilaikul & Kumar, 2010; Oliveira et al., 2012; Maurya et al., 2014) have investigated the use of alternative materials, such as
expanded clay and vegetal fibers as constituent of the evaporative pads.
Finally, the nanoclay gel samples were turned into aerogel through a freeze-drying process in order to maintain the expansion of the
expanded clay galleries without the collapse or reduction of the layered silicate enlargement when the water content was gradually evaporated.
The most widely used synthetic lightweight aggregate is called
expanded clay. Manufacturing of
expanded clay consists of heating the clay particles in a rotatory kiln.
In addition, we also used the lightweight artificial aggregate from the
expanded clay (see European Standards EN 13055-1, EN 14063-1 and EN ISO 9001).
Instead of compost or fibre, small pebbles or
expanded clay particles are used for potting bulbs in exactly the same way.
Technology of receiving
expanded clay from poorly swelling up clay raw materials.
Mavronicolas' crops rested on a bed of
expanded clay aggregate--airy terracotta spheres that permitted the roots access to both oxygen and nutrient-rich waters.
The main alternatives for the construction of embankments on soft soils are landfills supported on concrete or steel piles; landfills filled with lightweight materials (
expanded clay, expanded polystyrene or EPS, and others); Deep Soil Mixing, Jet Cutter Soil Mixing and Grouting and others.
Considerable differences in effectiveness of fibres strongly depend first of all on aggregate type (polystyrene, pumice,
expanded clay, sintered fly ash), secondly on fibre type (straight or hook ended; 5 to 50 mm long) and its content (0.5-2.0% by volume).