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Using a Steamroom To Sterilize Pallets of Styrofoam Seedling Container Blocks

Sterilization Room

The sterilization room (figure 9) measures more than 11,000 cubic feet (24-feet wide by 47-feet long by 10-feet high, lined with 2-inch-thick rigid foam insulation. The rigid foam not only insulates the steam room to reduce energy costs, but protects the existing plywood from the high-temperature and high-humidity environment, which would cause the plywood to delaminate. Workers painted the foam with a special latex paint designed for the high-humidity and high-temperature conditions. The paint helps to seal the foam and prevents mold from growing.

The room is large enough for a forklift to load and unload the styroblocks easily. A drain in the middle of the room allows water that condenses from steam to drain.

[photo] Converted storage cooler.
Figure 9—A storage cooler was converted into a sterilization room. Steam
pumped into the room provides high-humidity heat.

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