We are looking for a compny that have erected or built a cover over a
large working reservoir of phosphoric acid. by large we mean at least
100m X 50m. The phosphoric acid is usaly manufactured by fertilizers
industry. The content of the pond is 85%  phosphoric acid and 4% SO4.
By working we mean that the structure or the cover was erected whle
the reservior is full of phosphoric acid. We need to know the
materials of the stucture.

Hello,

I believe that I have found two possible sources for your reservoir
cover, based on the data that you have provided.  The first is based
in the U.S., and the second is in Colombia.  I do not believe this
list is exhaustive, but will certainly get you started:

Poly-Flex Inc., http://www.poly-flex.com/
Ingeniería & Geosintéticos Ltda,
http://www.building.com/communities/texis/db/go/+gwwrmwmdeQhbxmwxe9Dww/profile.html

Since the Colombian company does not have any detailed information
available on the web, I have sent them a short request with some of
the details of your application, on your behalf.  I will augment this
answer with whatever they provide when it comes in.

Having said that, the Poly-Flex site has a lot of useful data on it,
and it appears that they specialize in just this sort of thing.  In
particular, this link shows their "Agricultural Pond Liner" solution:

http://www.poly-flex.com/linerp01.html

Now, to answer your second question, based on the information on the
Poly-Flex site, such a cover would be made of one of their
"high-density polyethylene geomembranes", which are evidently
highly-resistant to the corrosive effects of nitrates, ammonia, and
phosphoric acid.

I gather from Poly-Flex that, when considering reservoirs with toxic
or waste products, a cover is not the only thing that is important but
rather the whole reservoir basin needs to be sealed from the
environment as well. Since you describe a cover being required for an
in situ reservoir, I am hoping that that is not an issue in your case.

Search strategy:
"reservoir covers"
"fertilizer lagoon cover"

---

Clarification of Answer by tomo-ga on 30 Sep 2002 12:09 PDT

Hello again,

I have finally received a reply from the Colombian firm regarding your
question.  There reply is as follows:

"Yes, we are able to provide and install covers of 5000 m2 on existing
reservoirs. According with our laboratory our PVC membranes can be
used on phosphoric acid.

To be sure about chemical resistance of our membranes for your
project, we need to know a more exact description of the product to
cover. Please let us know all data that you have about it."

For further information, you may contact

Alfredo Malagon
e-mail: ingeosin@latino.net.co


I hope this helps,

-- tomo-ga