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We are continuously working on projects to demonstrate that solar energy can be used to very effectively densify Styrofoam. Our ultimate goals is to give practical demonstrations, and then to provide instructions that people can follow or modify based on their climate and available materials for use in sustainable Styrofoam upcycling.
Solar Oven #1
Solar Oven #1
This is a sequence of images of the construction of our first solar oven. The front clear panel is 2 feet by 4 feet of 1/16th inch polycarbonate plastic. The frame is built from scrap wood, and can be built from any available material. This oven is a tube type solar oven, the tube is 18 inch diameter by 2 feet black steel stove pipe. The internal reflector is recycled Aluminized Mylar from a plant grow house. The cylinder mirror at the bottom of the reflector chamber is 31 inch radius with the stove pipe placed 15 inches above the center of the cylinder mirror, at the focus point.
Solar Oven #1 Completion
Solar Oven #1 Completion
EPS Densification
EPS Densification
Packing peanut Styrofoam is one of the most infamous forms of Styrofoam pollution. Packing Styrofoam has been virtually unrecyclable because of its extremely low density. As can be seen by the right, temperature easily achievable in a solar oven can densify packing peanuts by a factor of at least 50 in a matter of 10 minutes.
Styrofoam hot-
Styrofoam hot-
wire Cutter
wire Cutter
Very large pieces of Styrofoam would be difficult to densify because it is a very good insulator, therefore it would take long periods of time to densify thick pieces of Styrofoam. Cutting Styrofoam with a saw would generate lots of dust, the best way to cut Styrofoam is with a hot-wire cutter. Here we demonstrate a hot-wire cutter that runs on 12 volts, so it would be easily powered by solar power.
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