Mineral wool products for the cultivation of plants

Abstract: A product made of bound mineral wool for the cultivation of plants, in which a reversibly water adsorbing agent insoluble in water is bound to the mineral wool, serves for the extensive grassing of soilless grounds, in particular the grassing of roofs. It contains, as water adsorbing agent, an inorganic compound, in particular pyrogen silicic acid, or an organic superabsorber. Preferably, the product is available in the form of a felt or the form of the plate with a density of more than 50 kg/m³, particularly more than 70 kg/m³.

Description: The invention relates to mineral wool products to be used for the cultivation of plants, a method for manufacturing such a product as well as the use of this product for grassing soilless grounds, particularly roofs, requiring extensive irrigation. Apart from the fibering process, an important stage in the production of mats with mineral fiber base is the production of the mat as such. In a well known manner, the molten glass is drawn into fibers for example by a centrifuging fiber forming process and an aqueous composition of binding agent based on a thermosettable resin is sprayed onto the fibers which are then collected by a collection device consisting, for example, of an endless conveyor belt of a gas and water-permeable type. Vacuum boxes are placed under the endless belt in order of creating a certain subpressure. Due to this gas and water-permeability, the mixture of fibers, the large amounts of gas generated by the fibering - by the burners or especially by air-induction - and the water sprayed on the fibers can be separated, the fibers remain on the belt as wool mattress and the gas and water mixture is sucked off below the conveyor belt. The wet wool mattress is carried by the conveyor to a conforming and binder polymerising-chamber wherein the binder is cured and the mattress is calibrated. The gas/water mixture is spoiled with particles of the binding agent and remnants of fibers and consequently, is then treated with water in a washer. This cleaning treatment runs through filters on which the solid matter is deposited. The water cleaned in this way is then re-introduced into the washer, fresh water being optionally added only for compensating possible evaporation. In addition to the advantageous mechanical properties, the polymerized binder, as a rule phenol formaldehyde or urea formaldehyde resin, confers to the mineral wool product hydrophobic properties although the mineral wool itself has hydrophilic properties. Such a hydrophobization is suitable for products used in construction industry as heat and/or sound insulating means since high requirements must be fulfilled with respect to the water resistivity of this products. If, however, the mineral wool product is to be used as substrates for the cultivation of plants in soilless culturing, it becomes necessary that the mineral wool product is able to adsorb water or aqueous nutritive solutions or take them up in their capillary tubes so that the plant roots or even the seeds spread out on the mineral wool are sufficiently supplied with water or aqueous nutritive solutions. As the traditionally produced mineral wool products do not fulfil these requirements for hydrophilic qualities, it is therefor necessary to use suitable additives in order of getting this desired property. From EP-201 426 it is known to impregnate mineral fibers bound with a thermosettable resin binder, which are to be processed into blocks of substrates for plants cultivation, with a non-ionic tenside on the basis of ethoxylated fatty alcohols. Moreover, form DE-2 057 945 which discloses all the features of the preamble of claim 1, it is known to render mineral wool products water absorbing during the production process by applying a mixture of phenol formaldehyde or urea formaldehyde resin and a tenside to the fibres. Hydrophilizing agents containing the known tensides have the disadvantage of letting occur flocculations - mainly of phenol resins - when using the water-effluents cleaning system, which then lead to clogging of the filters. Such a hazard may lead to an undesired breakdown of the whole production line since both time and cost intensive cleaning works of the filters become necessary. Apart from this difficulty, these hydrophilizing agents have the further disadvantage that, due to their contents of tensides, they are washed out of the mineral wool itself in the course of time. This means that the mineral wool products lose their hydrophilic qualities and, on account of their contents of resin binder, become hydrophobic again. Moreover, the mineral wool products containing tenside can indeed by wetted more easily but the water is not adsorbed at the mineral wool or retained by it in some way or the other and, due to the effect of the tensides, flows off immediately or evaporates at once so that it is available for plant cultivation for only a very short time. The problem underlying the invention therefore is to provide a mineral wool product for the cultivation of plants having good mechanical stability, which has the effect of a water storage tank and which furthermore, has hydrophylic qualities which do not get lost under weathering conditions. The problem is solved by the characterizing features of claim 1 and, with respect to the method for the production of the product, by the characterizing features of claim 10. A further problem of the present invention consists in the grassing of soilless grounds, such as roofs, walls, streets and blankets, under extensive watering by means of rain. This problem is solved by the features of claim 11. The mineral wool product achieved by the process has the advantage of easily taking up water in liquid or gaseous form, for example as rain, pouring water, fog or as gaseous or droplet vapour contained in the atmosphere. Furthermore, it adsorbs the water taken up so that the latter can neither flow off nor vaporize under usual weathering conditions. Thus, it serves as water storage tank. However, plants are able to develop sucking forces for water of such a strength that they overcome the adsorption forces and, under their effect, the water is desorbed so that it becomes available for the plants in times of dryness. In the scope of the invention inorganic substances are suited for the use as reversible water adsorbing agents insoluble in water. As inorganic substances, for example, different clay minerals, aluminium oxide Al₂O₃ or AlO(OH) as well as their hydrates and silicon dioxide SiO₂ can be used, which are able to reversibly adsorb large quantities of water. Precipitated silicic acid as well as highly dispersed pyrogen silicic acid obtained by flame hydrolysis have proved to be particularly suitable, the latter being sold for example under the trade names "Aerosil R " or "Cab-O-Sil R ". Such silicic acids gained by way of flame hydrolysis of SiCl₄ have a large surface area almost free of pores which can measure e.g. 100 to 500 m²/g. Pyrogen silicic acid which can be employed, in accordance with the invention, is able to reversibly adsorb a multiple of its weight of water on its very large surface area. It is completely insoluble in contrast to the silicic acid which, according to the method indicated in EP-A-0 354 748, is applied on rock wool in addition to a tenside. The rock wool treated in such a way is, according to this state of the art, a culture substrate from which silicon dioxide, which takes a long time to dissolve, dissolves step by step in the nutritive solution with which the plant is supplied and thus takes over an active part in, for example, stimulating the growth of the plant. In contrast thereto, the water adsorbing agent insoluble in water, which is used according to the invention, is not dissolved and thus remains on the mineral wool. It is not washed out, either, as it is (probably via hydrogen bonds) irreversibly bound to the mineral wool under weathering conditions. Furthermore, the product according to the invention does not contain tensides which, according to the prior art, are contained in products of bound mineral wool for the cultivation of plants. In the scope of the present invention, in accordance with the scientific nomenclature in physics and chemistry, the term reversible "water adsorption" in the specification and the claims means a reversible attachment of water in gaseous or liquid form to the solid water adsorbing agent. In the commercial and partially also in the technical field such an adsorption frequently is referred to as "absorption", too. For the production of the mineral wool products according to the invention, the inorganic as well as the organic water adsorbing agents are suspended in water, the suspension being preferably dispersed using a high performance disperser, e.g. of the trade name "Ultraturrax". During the production of the mineral wool the suspension is applied to the fibres in the chute namely in the space between the fibering device and the conveyor belt or on the conveyor belt running therebelow. In the chute, the still hot fibres are sprayed with the resin binder. The reversibly water adsorbing agent insoluble in water is sprayed onto the mineral wool preferably not together with the resin binder, but subsequently, either still in the chute or on the conveyor belt so that the contact with the liquid resin binder does not impair the effectivity of the agent. However, it is possible to spray the water adsorbing agent insoluble in water onto the mineral wool before or at the same time as the resin binder. The suspension in water of the water adsorbing, water-insoluble agent can contain up to 20 % weight of solid matter, preferably 3 to 7 % of weight of solid matter. An aqueous suspension of 4 to 5 % of weight of solid matter has proved particularly well in practical use. The water adsorbing agent is added to the mineral wool in a quantity of at least 0.05 %, relative to the weight of the mineral wool. Larger quantities, however, increase the adsorptive capacity so that preferably 0.1 to 1 % of the water adsorbing agent, relative to the weight of the mineral wool, are added. A special advantage of the reversibly water adsorbing agent insoluble in water which is applied to the mineral wool lies in the fact that the agent neither disintegrates nor volatilizes when the mineral wool mattress - as is generally common - is led through a tunnel oven with an ambient temperature of about 200°C for curing the binding agent. Also, its water adsorptive capacity is not impaired essentially by this heat treatment. The mineral woll product can, in the scope of the present invention, be available as felt. This makes it possible to adapt it to unevennesses on the base. The use of mineral wool product in the form of a plate with a raw density of more than 50 kg/m³, particularly more than 70 kg/m³, has the advantage that such plates can be produced on a large scale and relatively cheap and, moreover, with such stability that they can be walked on, if need be. It is possible to add a fertilizer to the moulded part in the form of a long-term fertilizer. During times of dampness, e.g. rain or fog, the fertilizer is dissolved and thus becomes available for the plant. Further, it is possible to add a pesticide to the moulded product, for example a fungicide, together with the water adsorbing agent insoluble in water or separately. According to an embodiment of the invention, a roof is at least partially covered with the mineral wool products in accordance with the invention and is provided with seeds or plants. It may be favourable, especially if the seeds are to be used for germination, to apply the seeds onto the mineral wool plates and then cover the latter with a humus layer so as to protect the seeds from being eaten by birds or from wind drifts. As the mineral wool plates are mechanically stabile they can - when sufficiently supported - be used for roof coverings which can be walked on. Furthermore, such mineral wool plates have good resistance to atmospheric exposure. Further advantages and features of the present invention can be seen from the description of an example. EXAMPLE A mineral wool plate shall be produced. To this end, basalt melt - as mineral melt - is drawn into fibers as known, using, for example, the blast drawing method. Subsequent to the fibering procedure, an aqueous suspension of Aerosil R is sprayed. Aerosil R is a pyrogen silicic acid and has a surface area of 200 to 500 m²/g. The aqueous Aerosil suspension was produced as follows : 4 % of Aerosil was suspended in water on an Ultraturrax. Subsequent to the treatment of the mineral fibres with the Aerosil suspension, the mineral wool mattress produced is processed as known to obtain mineral wool plates for the cultivation of plants. As indicated above, the aqueous dispersion of the reversibly water adsorbing agent insoluble in water is produced in the form of a 4 to 5 % suspension and sprayed onto the plates. The mineral wool plates which are produced by way of the reversibly water adsorbing agent as described above have, as plates for grassing roofs, a dimension of approximately 60 x 100 x 10 cm, their raw density being approximately 70 kg/m³. The hydrophilic qualities of the mineral wool plates produced can be measured, for example, by making the so-called sinking test. If the moulded products of bound mineral wool have hydrophilic qualities they must be sunk after approximately 30 to 240 s, a fact which can be observed with all mineral wool plates if they were produced using the reversibly water adsorbing and water-insoluble agent of the present invention. A further measurement for the hydrophilic qualities of mineral wool products is the capillary water absorption. In this test, the mineral wool products to be examined are sealed with paraffin at their front sides and put on the surface of a water bath of about 20°C with their upper and lower side, respectively. The capillary water absorption of the mineral wool plated produced in accordance with the invention amounts to 100 to 200 g/dm² after 30 seconds, 190 to 225 g/dm² after 1 hour and 230 to 250 g/dm² after 24 hours. So as to ensure the use of such mineral wool plates for the grassing of roofs, the mineral wool plates were examined for their aptness as fertilizing and growing substrate. In doing so, it turned out that in cultivation tests with tomato seeds a germination rate of more than 90 % was achieved. Moreover, in terms of numbers, only little root deformations were observed, which means that the mineral wool plates obtained are excellently suited as fertilizing and growing substrate for cultivated plants. For the purpose of grassing roofs, it is necessary to cover the roof construction with a waterproof foil and then apply mineral wool plates produced in accordance with the invention onto the whole surface area, which ensures a perfect roof covering as the mineral wool products of the present invention have at the same time good mechanical stability. In the case of roof coverings of steep roofs it therefore is useful to insert waterproof strips, e.g. made of conventional mineral fibre plates, between the abutting surfaces of the roof grassing plates running parallel to the eaves, so that rain water falling on the plates cannot flow off immediately in the direction of the eaves.

Claims: Mineral wool product for the cultivation of plants, comprising mineral wool made of mineral fibers bound by a resin binder and a reversibly water adsorbing agent that is insoluble in water bound to the mineral wool, characterized in that the water adsorbing agent is an inorganic compound. Mineral wool product according to claim 1, characterized in that the water adsorbing agent is pyrogen silicic acid. Mineral wool product according to claim 1, characterized in that the water adsorbing agent is precipitated silicic acid. Mineral wool product in accordance with one of claims 1 to 3, characterized by contents of at least 0,5 % of the water adsorbing agent, relative to the weight of the mineral wool. Mineral wool product according to one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that it is provided in form of a felt. Mineral wool product according to one of claim 1 to 5, characterized in that it is provided in the form of a plate having a density of more than 50 kg/m³ and, in particular, more than 70 kg/m³. Mineral wool product according to one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that it contains a fertilizer and possibly a herbicide. Method for the production of a mineral wool product according to one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that subsequent to the fiberization procedure of a mineral melt the inorganic water adsorbing agent is added to the mineral wool separately of the binding agent, in particular after the binding agent is added. Method according to claim 8, characterized in that the water adsorbing agent is sprayed in form of an aqueous suspension. Method according to claim 9, characterized in that the mineral wool provided with the binding agent and the water adsorbing agent is treated thermally. Use of a product according to one of claims 1 to 7 for the extensive grassing of soilless grounds. Use of a product according to claim 11 for the grassing of roofs. Use of a product according to claim 12, characterized in that a roof is at least partially covered with products according to one of claims 1 to 7, and is provided with seeds or plants, the mineral wool products being possibly covered with a protective layer, in particular humus or the like.

Inventors: BIHY LOTHAR, KUMMERMEHR HANS, BIHY, LOTHAR, KUMMERMEHR, HANS
Applicants: SAINT GOBAIN ISOVER, ISOVER SAINT-GOBAIN
Application year: 1991
Main classification: A01G31
IPC codes: D04H1, A01G1, C05G3, A01G31