Completed in mid-2024, the expansion of the McCarty Family Farms in Rexford, Kansas (USA), provided added capacity to the operation’s milk processing plant. PENETRON ADMIX SB, a crystalline waterproofing admixture, was specified to protect the plant’s reinforced concrete storage tanks from deterioration due to the corrosive environment of the animal effluent.

The McCarty Family Farms is located in Rexford, a small farming community in northwestern Kansas, about 250 miles (400 km) east of Denver, Colorado. The operation, owned and operated by the 4th generation of McCarty dairy farmers, is home to over 17,000 registered Holsteins.

Located on the main farm of the McCarty Family Farms, the processing plant uses an innovative evaporative milk condensing process to significantly reduce milk volume; the reduced amount of milk makes it easier to transport to customers, who simply add water to reconstitute the milk to its original volume.

“The recent expansion of the McCarty Family Dairy Farms included construction of concrete tanks for animal effluent storage and processing,” adds Patrick O’Brien, Western Region Sales Manager for Penetron USA. “While concrete is a strong and versatile construction material, it is also permeable and can deteriorate rapidly when exposed to chemical attack, carbonation, and chloride-induced corrosion commonly found in such environments.”

Identical to the planning and construction of a wastewater treatment plant, these tanks needed a concrete mix that is impermeable to the aggressive environment of the effluent generated by the farm’s dairy cows. To combat these issues, Penetron provided a durable waterproofing mix design to reduce the risk of concrete failure in the farm’s concrete structures.

“A mix design incorporating PENETRON ADMIX SB, a crystalline waterproofing admixture, reduces the permeability of the concrete structure by up to 98% — and also self-heals any microcracks that occur in the future,” notes Patrick O’Brien.

When added to concrete, the active ingredients in PENETRON ADMIX SB react with water and byproducts of the cement hydration process to form insoluble crystals that fill capillaries, microcracks, and pores within the concrete. This network of crystals blocks the pathways for water and harmful chemicals. This greatly reduces the risk of corrosion and chemical attack, ensuring the durability and longevity of concrete structures in extreme environments like the storage tanks at the McCarty Dairy Farms.

“Thanks to our proven performance, practical packaging, and green tracer visible in the bleed water for visual quality control purposes, PENETRON ADMIX SB was specified by Croell, the ready-mix concrete supplier, for the McCarty Dairy Farms project,” says Patrick O’Brien.