Newsletter 2013 Winter

Transcription

A Quarterly Publication of the Perlite Institute
IN THIS ISSUE
Perlite and Repkin
Biosystem, Inc., combine
forces to transform the lives
of high school students in
Chicago. For more on this
story, go to page 5.
2
3
3
4
5
...... Board of Directors
...... Message from the President
...... Meet Perlite Institute’s New Treasurer
...... Message from the Executive Director
...... Perlite Helps to Transform the Lives of
High School Students
6 ...... Nordisk Perlite Hoping to Heat Local
Homes in Denmark
7 ...... Why Perlite Rocks
11 ...... The Perlite Papers
12 ...... Patents: Two Thumbs Up for Perlite
13
13
14
15
...... Technical Q&As
...... In the News: Mergers and Acquisitions
...... Perlite Patents
...... News from the Perlite Institute
– Redesigned Website Launched
– Perlite Institute’s New Newsletter Editor
– New Perlite Institute Member
– Product Photos Needed
16 ...... Selected Upcoming Trade Shows and
Meetings
17 ...... New Perlite Institute Brochures
J A N UA RY 2013
DISTRIBUTED IN
WINTER 2013
PERLITE INSTITUTE, INC.
Perlite Today— WINTER 2013
PAGE 2
2013 Board of Directors for the Perlite Institute
OFFICERS
PRESIDENT
TREASURER
Linda Chirico
Carolina Perlite Company, Inc.
Keith Hoople
Midwest Perlite, Inc.
P.O. Box 158
Gold Hill, NC 28071
Phone: (704) 279-2325
Fax: (704) 279-8818
[email protected]
4280 West Parkway Blvd.
Appleton, WI 54913
Phone: (920) 731-2671
Fax: (920) 731-2600
[email protected]
VICE PRESIDENT
PAST PRESIDENT / ADVISOR
Matt Goecker
EP Minerals LLC
Kathryn Louis
Sun Gro Horticulture Canada, Ltd.
9785 Gateway Drive
Suite 1000
Reno, NV 89509
Phone: (775) 824-7658
[email protected]
15831 NE Eighth St., #100
Bellevue WA 98008
Phone: (425) 433-0170
Fax: (253) 484-2715
[email protected]
DIRECTORS
Sebastien Caspard
Imerys Performance & Filtration Minerals
154 Rue de l'Universite
Paris 75007
France
Phone: (33) 633 50 82 17
[email protected]
Mike Hess
Idaho Minerals LLC
P.O. Box 162
Malad City ID 83252
Phone: (208) 766-4777 or (800) 767- 4701
Fax: (208) 766-4776
[email protected]
René van der Mark
Pull Rhenen b.v.
Postbus 15
Utrechtsestraatweg 222
Rhenen 3911 TX, Netherlands
Phone: (31) 318-471001
Fax: (31) 318-472088
[email protected]
Matthew Malaghan
Australian Perlite Pty Limited
18-22 McPherson St.
Banksmeadow
Sydney NSW 2019
Australia
Phone: 61 2 9316 0054
Fax: 61 2 9316 0050
[email protected]
Jerry Mishler
Supreme Perlite
4600 N. Suttle Road
Portland, OR 97217
Phone: (503) 286-4333
Fax: (503) 286-1068
[email protected]
Rick Willis
Silbrico Corporation
6300 River Road
Hodgkins IL 60525-4257
Phone: (708) 354-3350
Fax: (708) 354-6698
[email protected]
PAGE 3
Message from the President
by Linda Chirico
Thanks Go to Past President and Hardworking
Board and Committee Members
Greetings, fellow Perlite Institute members! I would
like to wish everyone a happy and prosperous
2013.
Many thanks go to Kathryn Louis, our past
president, for her outstanding leadership during
the past two years. Our hardworking Board of
Directors and committee members have done a
great job in strategic planning, meeting planning,
revitalizing our brochures and moving the new
Perlite Institute website to live status, and my
thanks go out to them as well. Moving forward,
there is work to be done, and I extend an invitation
to all members to get involved in committee work
according to your interests. Committee meetings
are easy to participate in with conference calls and
the worldwide web!
Your Board of Directors will be meeting April 9 in
Reno, Nev., home base of our Vice President Matt
Goecker of EP Minerals. Perlite Institute members
wishing to attend are always welcomed.
already been hard at work
planning our upcoming Annual Meeting
scheduled for Sept. 29 through Oct. 2 in Sydney,
Australia. Matthew Malaghan and Andrew
Anderson of Australian Perlite have been leading
this effort from Down Under, so please mark your
calendars now and plan to attend.
My thanks go to Keith Hoople of Mid-West Perlite
for agreeing to serve as our treasurer for the next
two years.
Last but not least, we must focus our efforts on
increasing Perlite Institute membership if the
Perlite Institute is to remain a vital organization
able to pursue its mission to promote perlite in its
current and potential markets. This will be a
challenge given the prevailing economic
circumstances worldwide, but I believe that the
Perlite Institute has a lot to offer and we are up to
the task.
Linda Chirico, Perlite Institute President
Your Meetings and Membership Committee has
Meet Perlite Institute’s New Treasurer
Keith Hoople of Midwest Perlite Inc. was
recently appointed treasurer of the Perlite
Institute, a position he will hold for the
next two years. Midwest Perlite has been a
member of the Perlite Institute since the
early 1980s, and Keith will be following in
the footsteps of his father, Gene, who
served as the institute’s treasurer in the
past.
being a part of the Institute.”
As he steps into his role as treasurer, Keith
is looking forward to establishing
additional, closer relationships with other
Perlite Institute members while he also
continues to gain more knowledge of
perlite and its many benefits.
Keith, who is also a commercial-rated
pilot, has been president and sole owner
of Midwest Perlite, which is located near
Appleton, Wis., since 2005. A family-owned
business since 1970, Midwest Perlite is a general
expander and miller of perlite products for use in
horticulture, construction and industry. It
distributes a variety of perlite grades to customers
throughout the midwestern United States and
central Canada.
Keith Hoople
Keith, who started working for his father at
Midwest in 1981 while still in high school, has
attended meetings of the Perlite Institute since the
late 1980s.
“As a member who attends meetings, I have
enjoyed meeting others in the industry and
learned so much about our industry,” Keith says,
“and this has only increased my excitement of
PAGE 4
Message from the Executive Director
by Denise R. Calabrese
Take Advantage of all the Perlite Institute Has to Offer You
The Perlite Institute is working diligently to bring you
news, information, materials and promotional tools
you can use in your business. Are you taking full
advantage of the many opportunities being provided
to you? Let’s review just a few of those items.
News
Are you reading the Perlite Today cover to cover?
Ken Wiener provides spectacular information that
will help your business comply with regulations
and be properly informed. His insights are always
interesting, and you should be able to pull a
minimum of one important piece of information
from his articles.
We are working to bring new and exciting
information to you from various sources. An article
in this particular issue
about what Nordisk Perlite
We are working to bring
is doing with its surplus
new and exciting
heat is very interesting
information to you
and might be an idea for
from various sources.
you to explore in your
community.
Sharing information like this helps your fellow
members, too, so send us information when you
have something exciting going on at your business
or in your community.
Updates on happenings at Perlite Institute events are
also shared in the newsletter, and you can read
about all you missed if you were unable to attend
the meeting.
from the homepage of the
website at www.perlite.org.)
This information can be quite valuable to you if you
are receiving questions from customers and are
unsure how to answer them. You could also direct
your customers to these pages so they can
constantly be reminded of the many versatile uses
of perlite!
Finally, if you visit these pages, you can comment
on any of the inquiries received if you have
knowledge of a specific use of perlite and want to
share more information with the person making the
inquiry. There are so many uses of social media,
and it helps to get the word out about perlite. I
strongly encourage you to get involved with social
media … that is how the next generation is
communicating, and you don’t want to be left
behind!
Materials
We have a phenomenal Communications
Committee within the Perlite Institute. This
committee spends hours discussing the product
and plant guides (available on the website) and
updating the information being provided. You can
either direct your customers to that page of the
website, or you can print the guides and distribute
them to your customers as a promotional tool.
The new guides are well-designed, informational
and up-to-date. I strongly encourage you to take a
look at this information that is available to you as a
member of the Perlite Institute.
Information
The Perlite Institute has contracted with Chuck
Vogelsang to provide technical advice to those
who make inquiries to the Perlite Institute. Chuck
does a fabulous job of answering those questions.
Where can you find them? Just go to Facebook at
www.facebook.com and “like” the Perlite Institute,
or go to LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com and search
for the Perlite Institute group. (You can also access
the Perlite Institute’s social media pages directly
Promotional Tools
Every single member has
Have you worked on your the opportunity to promote
webpage for the Perlite
your business directly to
Institute website? The new visitors to our website at
website provides every
www.perlite.org.
single member the
opportunity to promote
your business directly to visitors to our website at
www.perlite.org. It is like having another website
Continued on page 12
PAGE 5
Perlite Helps to Transform the Lives of Chicago Students
by Amy Bobb
When Michael Repkin
wants the best method for
growing produce, he looks
up. To the rooftops of
Chicago, that is. As
president of Repkin
Biosystems, Inc., he has
made a career out of
installing gardens on
rooftops and on walls.
School, a magnet school on
the north side of the city) is
generally safe and clean,
Repkin says, but structurally
it created a challenge for the
student gardeners.
“A lot of the soil in Chicago
is clay, and we literally
broke pick axes trying to
turn up the ground,” he
explains. “By adding perlite,
we could instantly see the
impact it had. Students can
now dig the soil with their
hands, and they love to
scoop up a potato or pull
out a foot-long carrot using
just their bare hands.”
“The open space available
in urban areas is on roofs,”
Repkin says. “Think about
Students at Northside Prep High School in
it. City buildings have little
Chicago learn firsthand how perlite improves the
space out front or in the
productivity in the soil to increase the bounty of
alleyways, but where there
their garden. Food grown at their school garden
is space is where no one
is used to feed their families and the community.
While perlite is put to use
thinks to go — on the
transforming the gardens at
rooftops. There are
these inner-city schools, the work the students
thousands and thousands of acres of space in our
perform at the gardens is helping to transform their
cities, and it is right over our heads.”
lives. Not only are the teenagers growing potatoes,
Since starting his company, Repkin has created 10
peas, collard greens and bok choy for feeding their
to 15 gardens on rooftops that have met the
families and the community itself (excess harvest
structural and architectural requirements to
is donated to a food pantry and soup kitchen), but
support growing media, plants and gardeners. And,
Continued on page 6
to what does he owe the success of his rooftop
gardens (or any garden, for that matter) for
growing good, healthy produce? Perlite, of course.
“Perlite is a game-changer in urban agriculture,”
Repkin explains. “Many people insist on buying
organics for their soil, and this does provide
improvement, but even organic soil still loses
volume in about three years. Perlite, on the other
hand, transforms the soil in an entirely different way.
It breaks up the soil and gets air and water into it so
that you can grow anything you want, and perlite
will remain in the soil working for 100 to 200 years.”
Improving Soil
One of the ways that perlite has proven to be
particularly beneficial is in the gardens created by
Repkin and student volunteers at two high schools
in Chicago. The soil where the gardens have been
built (one on a donated quarter-acre lot near
Marshall High School on the west side of Chicago
and the other on two acres at Northside Prep High
Repkin Biosystems, Inc., uses perlite supplied by
Silbrico Corporation of Hodgkins, Ill. “I believe it’s
important to have students experience perlite,” says
Michael Repkin whose personal campaign is “to
know perlite is to love perlite.”
PAGE 6
Perlite Helps to Transform Continued
the students also learn to appreciate the value of
hard work while gaining hands-on knowledge
about science.
“Most students tell me they’re bored with the
subjects of chemistry, biology or physics in
school,” Repkin says. “I tell them then they’ve
never really done science. Once they come out
and work in the gardens and see what they have
created, they actually love gardening and the
science behind it.”
Many of his students have gone on to college —
some to focus on science or environmental studies
—with several coming back on breaks to help with
the gardens and work alongside the next group of
students.
Transforming Lives
The thrill and pride these students feel in being
able to take home produce and feed their families
cannot be underestimated, Repkin says,
particularly for students who have spent their lives
in some of Chicago’s poorest and most violent
neighborhoods.
“This food provides important sustenance to many
families, and it’s important to the students to be
able to provide for their families,” he says. “Once
they see that they can take virtually nothing and
develop it into something great, they are like, ‘Let’s
go to Africa and feed the people there.’”
At the same time the students are digging in the
garden, they are learning the science behind why
perlite works. “They know they need to improve
the productivity in the soil if they want to increase
their bounty,” Repkin says. “One of the things they
come up with on their own is that perlite works
and it lasts a long time. Once they do the math
themselves, they come to the realization that the
best choice for their garden is enhancing the soil
with perlite.”
Repkin and perlite have united to change the lives
of high school students. In return, Repkin says,
“Perlite has become an important part of these
teenagers’ toolkit for changing the world.”
Nordisk Perlite Hoping to Heat Local Homes in Denmark
This article appeared in a local newspaper about
Perlite Institute member Nordisk Perlite. Translation
was provided by Nordisk Perlite.
Today, Nordisk Perlite of Hillerød, Denmark, is
sending the surplus heat from its perlite
production process directly in the air, but if it goes
well this surplus will be used for heating ordinary
houses instead. A pipeline of about 2 km must be
installed between the factory and the local heating
central system for this to occur.
Nordisk Perlite produces expanded perlite, and
today the company is sending the surplus heat
from the production directly up into the
atmosphere. But the pipeline in question can be
used to send the heat to the Central Hillerød
Forsyning, which covers a huge area of users with
hot air for central district heating.
Niels Knudsen, the managing director of Nordisk
Perlite, says that the surplus heat can warm
between 300 to 400 houses per year. The council of
technical department of the Hillerød Kommune is
now in the final approval process, but as it is a
project with a very positive economy for the
society, it is only a formality, especially since the
Kommune “must” say yes to such positive
investments in a society as stated by the Danish
government.
The project is expected to be capitalized in 15 to 20
years based on present prices. Apart from this, the
environmental savings
should result in around
Niels Knudsen says that
1,796 tons of CO2 per year,
the surplus heat from the
which is also an important company’s perlite
factor in this decision. It is
production process can
thought that perhaps the
warm between 300 to
pipeline could be used to
400 houses per year.
heat up local houses
generally, but at this stage
this is not a part of the project.
Niels Knudsen furthermore says that Nordisk
Perlite must invest quite a sum for necessary
rebuilding of the factory, heat recovery systems,
etc., so Hillerød Kommune must pay for the
surplus heat. Nordisk Perlite is a manufacturer of
expanded perlite, which is used in such areas as
peat, insulation, building products and filtration of
all kinds of liquids.
Why Perlite Rocks
PAGE 7
A look at news around the globe affecting
Perlite manufacturers
by Kenneth Wiener
Updates on Global Markets, Industrial Standards,
Global Warning, Green Construction & the Economy
CRYSTALLINE SILICA and DUST
The 2012 presidential election marathon in the
United States is finally over. Might the proposal to
decrease allowable levels of respirable
crystalline silica in the workplace be acted upon
by the Office of Management and Budget? Stay
tuned for the answer, as still nothing has
happened, and no one has taken responsibility for
the delay so far.
More finger-pointing can be seen in the coal mining
industry. Regulations to decrease worker
exposure to coal dust have also been delayed.
Mine Safety and Health
Administration (MSHA)
Under proposed federal
has proposed rules that
rules to decrease worker
both labor unions and
exposure to coal dust,
companies object to, but
respirators are not part of
nothing has been
the solution.
finalized. The interesting
part of these proposed
rules is that respirators are not part of the solution.
Mining companies would have to improve
ventilation or reduce ambient coal dust in some
other manner, rather than increase the efficiency
of personal protection devices. One such dustsuppression technique reported at
engineerlive.com involves high-pressure spraying
to control visible dust. That may work well above
ground, but without adequate ventilation
underground, in an already damp environment
heated by the act of cutting rock, sauna conditions
may result, further degrading work conditions.
Silicosis claims by South African gold miners
are proceeding in both Johannesburg, South
Africa, and in the United Kingdom. Ten cases are
set to be heard by a three-judge South African
arbitration panel starting in September 2013. The
cases are scheduled to last four months with
judgment expected in early 2014. Meanwhile,
thousands of cases are proceeding in British
courts. The British court system was determined to
be better able to handle such a large number of
plaintiffs, and since the defendant, Anglo
American, the parent company of Anglo American
South Africa, is based in London, the cases could
be brought there. Potential settlements are
expected to set a framework for the entire industry
in South Africa.
Denim production techniques are due for some
changes. In addition to the problems reported here
about silicosis and tuberculosis from the dry
sandblasting of jeans around the world, discharges
of raw toxic waste from factories in Asia and Africa
have affected local communities. Pressure on
clothing manufacturers, designers and retailers
also comes from fluctuations in the cost of the raw
material: cotton. When supply dips due to weather
or other reasons, prices go up, giving researchers
and manufacturers incentives to look for a
synthetic fiber to supplement cotton for this
application.
The Industrial Minerals Association (Europe) is
advocating that EU regulations involving limiting
crystalline silica exposure be accomplished via
Directive 98/24/EC, risks related to chemical agents
at work, instead of Directive 2004/37/EC involving
carcinogens and mutagens in the workplace.
Crystalline silica is not explicitly mentioned in the
2004/37/EC document, but the EC is currently
taking another look at that directive and proposing
that more substances be placed on the list. It is
easy to see why the earlier directive would be the
preferred legislation.
A little research into dust regulation around the
world shows that different regions have different
concerns. In China, industrial pollution is not the
only source in some areas. Cities such as Beijing
and Shanghai are affected by dust from
sandstorms, generally producing PM-10 pollution.
Data from Malaysia, in a wetter part of Asia, show
lower levels of PM-10, but a significant amount of
PM-2.5. Malaysia does not adhere to low-sulfur
diesel fuel standards observed elsewhere in the
Continued on page 8
Why Perlite Rocks
PAGE 8
continued from page 7
region and the world. In fact, Malaysia exports lowsulfur oil to take advantage of higher pricing but
domestically allows the use of the higher sulfur
fuel. For more information on clean air activities in
Asia, visit http://cleanairinitiative.org/portal/
index.php.
GLOBAL WARMING & POLITICS
Climate change talks are going on in Qatar as I
write this column. No one is expecting any big
breakthroughs, as
The U.S. message on
countries such as China
climate change is that
are insisting that
we’re all in this together
environmental standards
and that emissions don’t
for developing countries
care where they are from.
be weaker than standards
for developed countries.
The United States’ message is that we are all in this
together and that emissions don’t care where they
are from.
As I have written before, potential solutions may
involve money. Developed countries claim to have
provided $30 billion of “fast start” money between
2009 and 2012 to help less developed countries
control emissions. China expects developed
countries to provide $60 billion in climate financing
funds by 2015. However, money may also be the
problem. U.S. subsidies and tax breaks to the fossil
fuel industry reached $13 billion in 2011, according
to the International Energy Agency. That same
report tells of worldwide subsidies to the industry
of $523 billion during 2011. Additionally, there is no
hard information regarding how much fast start
funding was actually provided, where it went, or
how it was used.
Politics in the United States remain contentious,
and Congress is unlikely to pass any serious
legislation regarding this issue. On the other hand,
a cap-and-trade program has been started in
California to comply with that state’s AB32
legislation. The bottom line is that allowances for
2013 were put up for auction and sold. The floor
price was $10 per ton of CO2 emissions, and the
average price from the auction was $10.09 per ton.
This California auction mainly affected utilities and
industries such as cement producers. In 2015, fuel
distributors will also have to pay for allowances. In
addition to those types of companies, however,
California diatomaceous earth producers also had
to pay for a certain amount of allowances. Perlite
opportunities may appear if producers pass on too
much of a surcharge.
In Europe, opposition from China, India and now
the United States has caused a “temporary” (oneyear) abandonment of the idea of charging
airlines a carbon tax based on the entire flight of
the airplane, rather than just the portion of each
flight over the EU Zone. European airlines will still
be subject to the tax.
EU LAWS: REACh, CLP
REACh legislation was intended to provide safe
products to the EU community. Another intent was
to provide environmentally friendly products to
the market. One aspect of REACh that is being
reviewed now for improvement is the treatment of
recycled materials, such as metals and plastics.
Regulations currently make it difficult if not
impossible to reuse or recycle materials that might
contain now-banned substances that were
perfectly legal to use originally. Hence,
economically, companies could be better off by
doing the wrong thing: putting materials in
landfills, instead of putting them to a better use.
For a waste and recycling company, complying
with REACH may simply prove too expensive to be
worthwhile.
Meanwhile, a REACh environmental committee
has placed 15 chemicals on its priority risk list
of those to be monitored
This marks the first time
and controlled in EU
that pharmaceuticals
surface waters, including
were placed on an EU
three pharmaceutical
surface water risk list.
compounds. This marks
the first time that
pharmaceuticals were placed on an EU surface
water risk list.
MINE SAFETY
In addition to fines and citations, federal
prosecutors are bringing criminal charges against
Massey Energy executives. The criminal charges
are based on MSHA’s investigation of the 2010
Upper Big Branch Mine disaster that killed 29
workers. David C. Hughart, former president of
Massey’s Green Valley Resource Group, has
agreed to plead guilty to the charges and is
cooperating with the investigation.
Continued on page 9
Why Perlite Rocks
PAGE 9
Prosecutors say Hughart conspired with other
unnamed Massey officials to thwart surprise
inspections by the MSHA. Hughart is accused of
authorizing and facilitating advance warnings to
miners underground when MSHA inspectors
arrived unannounced at several Massey mines.
Such advance warnings caused “the concealing
and covering up of violations of mine safety and
health laws that otherwise would result in citations
and orders” that could have slowed or halted coal
production and kept inspectors from discovering
inadequate use of ventilation-control devices and
failure to control explosive methane gas and coal
dust.
COMPETITION
As an update on the regulatory state of fly ash
residues from coal combustion, some companies
have found ways to use the material beyond the
addition to cement kilns. One particular company,
CalStar, has designed and begun to market bricks
made with fly ash. However, complaints against fly
ash include the fact that it contains measurable
heavy metals. In kilns, elements such as mercury
are vaporized and potentially emitted to the
environment. Putting the ash in containment
ponds or landfills, however, means that those
heavy metals are stored all together and can be
leached out over time. And, although there could
be some benefit to putting fly ash in certain acidic
soils, the effects of the heavy metal content would
likely mean that allowable dosage levels would be
quite small.
For vermiculite, the news is that the ore supplier in
Uganda has had to shut down as a result of
unfavorable economic conditions in Europe.
Another casualty of the Eurozone mess. Regarding
another African vermiculite ore supplier, the
word is that Rio Tinto may be interested in
divesting its ownership of Palabora Mining Co., Ltd.
One source indicates that diatomite production
levels remain high, despite closure of at least one
calcining unit at one facility in California.
THE ECONOMY
This brings us to the state of the global economy
and its parts. Forecasters predict all types of
futures, from renewed recession to modest growth
to outright recovery sometime down the road.
Parts of the California economy, such as real
estate, are recovering somewhat, but as we’ve seen
from the effects of unpredictable weather on the
U.S. East Coast and other such disasters,
recoveries can be fragile.
What is important to a business is continued
supply of raw materials and consistent customer
demand. For the perlite industry, the two major
inputs are energy and ore.
It looks like natural gas
Furnace infrastructure
supplies are going to be
(based on steel) can
abundant for the
sometimes be put off a
foreseeable future.
while if supplies are too
tight. It looks like natural
gas supplies are going to be abundant for the
foreseeable future until someone figures out ways
of exporting significant amounts of domestically
produced material. Ore imports coming through
ports may see some disruptions, perhaps as early
as 2014 when a new longshoremen’s union
contract will be coming up for renewal. Customer
demand for perlite continues. Demand reached a
minimum in 2009 but has reached prerecession
levels since, according to data from the U.S.
Geological Service.
Economies of developing countries often suffer
from a lack of domestic energy sources,
overpopulation, limited land and water resources,
and a wide gap between the educated, affluent few
and a much larger percentage of poorly educated,
low-income people. If only perlite could change
those situations. However, conservation of water in
soils and, in some cases, conservation of soil itself
is achievable with the power of expanded perlite.
It’s a start.
GREEN BUILDINGS
LEED is undergoing a periodic revision of its
standards. More detail will be reported when the
revisions are complete. As of now, there appears to
be a list of optional items that can earn credits,
including publishing information on what materials
were used to build the structure and avoiding the
use of “materials of concern,” i.e. chemicals that
might be dangerous. The new version, LEED v4,
originally scheduled to be called LEED 2012, will
be finalized in 2013. As I write this, it is in the fifth
round of public comments.
Why Perlite Rocks
PAGE 10
The Materials & Resources section of LEED v4 is
different from LEED 2009 in that it applies lifecycle
thinking at the whole-building and product level.
Proposed credits reward projects for reusing as
much material as possible and optimizing design to
use less material overall. LEED 2009 credits were
based on single attributes of materials, such as
recycled content. This approach only tells part of
the story; a product could have higher than
average performance on that one attribute but far
lower than average performance on others. The
LEED v4 approach tries to paint a more complete
picture of materials and products. It will be
interesting to evaluate perlite products once the
guidelines are established.
Another issue that’s been around a while but had
not hit my radar is “Green Cleaning.” This also
gets LEED points, but that’s not the primary focus.
For example, green cleaning costs at the University
of Georgia dropped due to its sustainable
purchasing policy of reducing cleaning product
costs from $1.5 million per year to $110,000.
Estimates also project savings with greener
cleaning products from reduced risk of handling
such products (pertaining primarily to custodians)
and higher worker productivity (from workers
working in greener environments).
Overall, LEED has been good for the industry,
however. Over half of construction companies
surveyed in one study are planning to build most
of their new construction in compliance with
LEED guidelines; however, the percentage actually
being certified by the U.S. Green Building Council
under LEED guidelines is declining. People are
losing commitment to a process that is expensive
and requires inspections and extensive
documentation. LEED v4 seems like an extension
of this.
BIOFUELS & OTHER SUSTAINABILITY ISSUES
East London has been chosen as an area to build a
waste-to-fuel plant to
A waste-to-fuel plant will
supply British Airways
supply British Airways with
with about 2 percent of
jet fuel used at all London about 2 percent of jet fuel
used at all London airports.
airports. This will be the
first facility to be built
expressly for such purpose, at a competitive price,
and is scheduled for completion in 2015. For
British Airways, this facility represents a way to
hedge against future fuel price spikes, create
corporate goodwill in environmental circles and
make good on past research efforts.
Hidden in a report by the U.S. Energy Information
Administration on energy supplies, uses and
prices (available for download at www.eia.gov/
forecasts/aeo/er/index.cfm) are a multitude of
graphs and other information about projections
through the year 2040, including renewable
sources such as biofuel. If you go to that website
and download the pdf file, look at Figures 4, 5, 7
and 8 before trying to read the rest. As with any
other forecast, keep in mind that the projections
are based on observed trends and not future
breakthroughs in research. Right now, there are
many research projects out there in academia, the
industrial environment, and government
(including military) that hold the potential to
drastically revise our energy future.
OTHER REGULATORY ISSUES
The 1987 revision of the U.S. Clean Water Act
included stormwater runoff for the first time.
Since then, the Los Angeles County Flood Control
District has operated under a permit. However, two
environmental groups sued the district in 2008,
claiming it was violating its permit and allowing
unacceptable levels of aluminum, copper, cyanide,
fecal coliform bacteria and zinc to reach rivers and
ultimately the ocean.
Once again, we see the effects of unintended
consequences. The original law was intended to
control point sources of pollution such as
industrial plants or sewage treatment facilities.
Heavy rainfalls throughout the region pick up
these pollutants across a vast area and may or may
not flow through treatment facilities. By the time
this newsletter comes out, the U.S. Supreme Court
will have heard arguments in at least three cases
such as this; in addition to this case involving
municipal runoff, two involve runoff from logging
roads in the Pacific Northwest.
As many members understand, stormwater
treatment with perlite is a significant market.
Consequences from these cases may be beneficial
to our industry.
Until next time, happy expanding! Contact me at
[email protected] if you have any
questions.
PAGE 11
The Perlite Papers
Innovative Uses of Perlite Explored
by Kenneth Wiener
As is almost always the case, people doing
research on perlite did not ask us what we needed
or wanted. A paper in Cement and Concrete
Composites by Derek Kramar and Vivek
Bindiganavile of the Department of Civil and
Environmental Engineering, University of Alberta,
Edmonton, Canada, on the use of perlite and fiber
in cement reported on samples made with no
perlite (cement and water only), 0.8 parts of perlite
to 1 part of cement, 4 parts of perlite to 1 part of
cement, and 8 parts of perlite to 1 part cement.
A significant amount of physical testing was
performed on the samples, and mathematical
relationships were inferred. The range from 4 to 8
parts perlite to 1 part cement is used frequently in
our industry. Lower amounts of perlite, without
additional aggregate of some kind, would result in
economically undesirable castings. Based on work
started about five years ago by one of our
members, it would have been interesting for the
researchers to try ratios such as 12:1, 16:1, and
SAVE THE DATE!
Perlite Institute
2013 Annual Meeting
Sept. 29 – Oct. 2, 2013
even as high as 20:1 to see what kind of properties
would result. They even could have compared
concretes made at those high ratios with heavier
concrete at those ratios.
An article in Desalination by Recep Akkaya of
Cumhuriyet University, Vocational School of
Health Services, Sivas, Turkey, concentrates on
removing uranium and thorium ions from water,
rather than determining whether some
polyacrylamide/perlite combination can act as
something more useful in a desalination process.
And, also on the absorption concept, researchers
at Purdue University have two papers being
published with the finding that perlite is pretty
good at being a substrate for a biofilter aimed at
reducing volatile organic compounds from a
wastewater stream.
On the other hand, sometimes information falls
into your lap. Another paper on perlite in chicken
feed and chicken litter has
One day, there will be
been published by A.
enough information
Tatar, F. Boldaji, B. Dastar,
available to present to
S. Hassani and S. Yalçin in
animal feed formulators
the International Research
and regulators to begin
Journal of Applied and
selling some perlite to
Basic Sciences, Vol., 3 (6),
this market.
1148-1154, 2012, and is
available online at
www.victorquestpub.com.
I continue to look forward to reading about and
reporting on innovative thinking out there in both
the literature and the real world.
Sydney,
Australia
More details to follow!
is a quarterly publication
of the
Winter issue is distributed in January
Spring issue is distributed in April
Summer issue is distributed in July
Fall issue is distributed in October
Perlite Institute, Inc.
4305 N. 6th St., Suite A
Harrisburg, PA 17110 USA
Phone: 717.238.9723
Fax: 717.238.9985
www.perlite.org
PAGE 12
Patents: Two Thumbs Up for Perlite
by Kenneth Wiener
Perlite and Bubble Wrap, Metal-Coated Perlite
Blastgard Technologies — By far, to me, the most
amazing patent this quarter is the ’752 patent
granted to Waddell, et al. This is not necessarily
due to the subject matter, which is extremely
innovative, but to the fact that the patent was
originally filed in 2003. To have a patent in the
application phase for that length of time is
extraordinary. (Of course, we don’t know who was
responsible for that nine-year span: the Patent
Office, the applicants or both.)
This patent is assigned to Blastgard Technologies,
which essentially came up with the concept of
bubble wrap filled with perlite to absorb
shockwaves from an explosive. One could wrap
this material around a trash can, for example,
detonate a bomb in the can, and have the
wrapping material absorb the explosion. From
what I understand, the U.S. military became a
significant customer of Blastgard.
Laird Technologies — I also like the ’159
Chandrasekhar, et al. patent. In it, expanded perlite
can be coated with actual metal. Metal salts are
introduced with the perlite and an organic diol
such as ethylene glycol. The mix is heated for up
to several hours, reducing the metal ions to metal
atoms and depositing that metal on the perlite. The
coated perlite is then washed and filtered. The
testing in that patent was accomplished with
material from one of our California members.
Then, as if that wasn’t tricky enough, the coated
perlite is incorporated into a thermoplastic via an
extruder. At the end, perlite will be present in the
plastic material, but any cellular structure will have
likely have been smashed, thereby increasing
thermal conductivity as well as electrical
conductivity. The assignee, Laird Technologies,
specializes in EMI shielding, thermal management
products, specialty metal products, signal integrity
components and antenna solutions, as well as
radio frequency (RF) modules and wireless remote
controls and systems.
It may be interesting to put such metal-coated
cellular perlite into a thermoset material and
investigate electromagnetic shielding and thermal
insulation properties.
Even if none of the listed patents generate any
sales for Perlite Institute members, they keep
pushing the boundaries of perlite thinking,
production and applications. Thanks for
continuing this journey with me.
Message from the Executive Director
Continued from page 4
for your business (if you already have one), or use
it as your company’s main website. You have
complete control over what you put on your
webpage and should be using this opportunity as a
promotional tool for your business.
There are so many more benefits of being a
member of the Perlite Institute.
The networking available through committee
involvement, the education provided at the annual
meeting, and the connections you can make with
other professionals in your industry are all
available just by your participation.
I hope you will consider
getting involved and not
just paying your dues and
forgetting about all the
benefits those dues
provide you as a member
of this wonderful
organization.
Let’s make this another fabulous year for the
Perlite Institute and all perlite manufacturers!
Sincerely,
Denise R. Calabrese
Executive Director
PAGE 13
Technical Q&As
Q: We own a guest house that is heated by a
small woodstove. The chimney liner at one level
does not line up with the one beneath, and we
would like to pour perlite or perlite concrete
down the space between the chimney and the
liners. Is this an appropriate use of perlite?
LNG tanks that had small leaks and the perlite in
the annulus absorbed the gas, which therefore was
not sufficiently purged. When going into such
vessels, always wear protection and take
measuring devices to monitor any residual gases.
A: Expanded perlite alone is not recommended for
this application as it does not have the ability to
seal an opening. However, a perlite concrete could
possibly be used for this purpose. Read more here.
In addition, click here to read more about perlite
chimney lining systems.
Q: Would perlite be a good alternative to
Styrofoam beads as filler for a Wonder Box,
which is a heat-retention cooker in which
essentially two “beanbags” accept a hot cooking
pot and serve as insulation to continue cooking
the food for hours without additional external
heat?
Q: May perlite be used in cryogenic cold box
absorb hydrocarbons if there is a leak in one of
the exchanges? If so, will the hydrocarbon be
released slowly from perlite with N2 purging of
the cold box? Is there any way to speed up the
release from perlite in case of hydrocarbon
absorption?
A: Perlite is an excellent insulator; however, I
would not recommend using it for this specific
application. Expanded perlite is basically glass,
which means it is a fragile material and will break
with repeated handling. Consequently, the bag
would continue to become smaller and less
effective with use.
A: Expanded perlite with a very low density that
has been pneumatically conveyed into anything,
including cold boxes, will have many broken
particles (particles with broken windows, so to
speak). The dust or minus-100 mesh screen is
made up in part of that “broken glass from the
windows.” As such, the particles will pick up or
absorb whatever is available, and this is always a
problem when purging. The only answer that I
know of is to purge until the absorbed material
dissipates to a satisfactory level. People have been
killed by out-gassing pockets of gas, for example, in
Want to see more? Have your own question? For
all of the 40+ questions (35 percent related to
construction, 35 percent to insulation, 20 percent to
horticulture and 10 percent to filter aid) that Chuck
Vogelsang, the Perlite Institute’s technical
spokesperson, has received and answered, please
visit the Perlite Institute Facebook page at
http://tinyurl.com/Perlite-Institute-Facebook or
the LinkedIn Group at http://tinyurl.com/PerliteInstitute-LinkedIn. To submit any questions you
may have, use Facebook or LinkedIn or email
[email protected].
In the News: Mergers & Acquisitions
Mohawk Bids on Italian Ceramic Tile-Maker
In December, Mohawk Industries Inc., the world’s
largest maker of flooring products, made a $1.5
billion bid for ceramic tile-maker Marazzi Group
SpA, based in Modena, Italy, a move that could
extend the company’s market share in the United
States to 23 percent, compared to 21 percent held
by Berkshire Hathaway Inc.’s Shaw Industries
Group. The Marazzi purchase would also mark the
third billion-dollar acquisition Mohawk CEO Jeffrey
Lorberbaum has orchestrated. Such deals have
helped transform what was Lorberbaum’s parents’
bathmat operation into a $5.7 billion housing
products empire that includes wood, carpet and
tile flooring operations, roofing and insulation
businesses and a do-it-yourself furniture line. Click
here to read the article from Bloomberg.com.
First Quantum’s Hostile Bid to
Inmet Expires Feb. 14
First Quantum Minerals Ltd., a producer of
copper in Africa, took its hostile C$5.1 billion ($5.17
billion) bid for Inmet Mining Corp. straight to
18-Sep-12
25-Sep-12
2-Oct-12
2-Oct-12
9-Oct-12
9-Oct-12
23-Oct-12
30-Oct-12
30-Oct-12
6-Nov-12
13-Nov-12
27-Nov-12
4-Dec-12
4-Dec-12
11-Dec-12
8,268,745
8,273,172
8,276,469
8,277,556
8,281,558
8,281,859
8,293,939
8,298,332
8,299,159
8,303,816
8,308,851
8,316,752
8,322,096
8,323,429
8,329,785
Langford
Immordino, et al.
Visser
Waddell Jr., et al.
3M Innovative Properties
U.S. Gypsum
––
Blastgard Technologies
––
Modular Wetland
Systems, Inc.
Laird Technologies
US Gypsum
Dow Corning
Halliburton Energy
Systems
Va-Q-Tec AG
W.R Grace & Co.
Horiba, Ltd.
Grancrete, Inc.
China Petroleum &
Chemical Corp.
ASSIGNEE
Low-dust joint compound
Plaster technique with thin
layers built up
Fire-resistant wall
Attenuation of shock waves
Removal of contaminants
Wetlands biofilter
Thermally conductive
thermoplastics
Lightweight cementitious
compositions
Treated filter aid to remove
vicinal diols
Modified cement kiln dust
Vacuum insulation element
Lightweight cement
foamed products
Stack gas measurement
Heat-resistant cement
Desulfurization catalyst
TOPIC
Filler
Weight reduction
Lightweight filler
Energy attenuation
Substrate & filter medium
Filtration
Substrate for metal
coatings
Filler
Filter aid, substrate for
surface modification
Chemistry and particle
size modifier
Insulation, filler
Lightweight aggregate
Absorbent in tubes
Insulator
Silica source
ROLE OF PERLITE
Preferred filler
Fine perlite preferred
Expanded: low weight
Ore: fire retardance
Preferred material
Preferred medium
Multi-chamber
filtration
Porous filler with metal
coatings
Coated perlite preferred
Rice hull ash preferred
Two of several acceptable
products: expanded & ore
Performance improves
by adding microporous silica
Conventional technology
but still useful
Good overall choice
Vermiculite and perlite OK
Preferred ingredient
OLD TECHNOLOGY
PAGE 14
Roberts
Kent, et al.
Chandrasekhar,
et al.
Dubey
Evans, et al.
Roddy, et al.
Hiemeyer, et al.
Berke, et al.
Akiyama, et al.
Selph, et al.
Dodwell, et al.
PERLITE: INNOVATIVE/
INVENTOR
Shares in SmartHeat Inc.
dropped 12 percent in midNovember, the most since
March 31. The Chinese
provider of clean
technology products and
services said it’s offering 5
million shares to raise
money for potential
acquisitions. Source:
Bloomberg.com
DATE
ISSUED
Other Merger
& Acquisition News
PATENT
NUMBER(S)
The deal, the biggest hostile
bid by a mining company
since BHP Billiton Ltd.
withdrew a $40 billion offer
for Potash Corp. of
Saskatchewan Inc. in 2010,
would help First Quantum
diversify geographically and
increase its output,
according to First Quantum
President Clive Newall. The
Vancouver-based company
can develop projects more
cheaply than its peers and
would use its expertise to
cut the cost of building
Inmet’s Cobre Panama
project, he said. Click here
to read the article from
Bloomberg.com
P A T E N T S
Inmet shareholders as it
seeks control of a project in
Panama. First Quantum’s
C$72-a-share offer in cash
and stock is 36 percent
more than Inmet’s closing
price on Nov. 27, the day
before Toronto-based Inmet
said it had rejected two
unsolicited proposals. The
bid will expire Feb. 14 and
requires acceptance by
holders of 66 percent of
Inmet shares.
P E R L I T E
Mergers & Acquisitions
Continued from page 13
PAGE 15
News from the Perlite Institute
The New Perlite Institute Website is Now Live
The Perlite Institute Communications Committee
and staff worked diligently during the past two
years to redesign the website’s overall look and
function. The new website is professional, current
and easy to use. It contains new tools specifically
geared toward consumers that will help them find
you and your company profile page. Click here to
see the new website.
If you have not submitted materials for your
company profile page, it’s not too late. Please
click here to fill out a form with your company’s
information and to review details about submitting
your logo and photos. Click here to see a sample
of a completed member company page. If you have
any questions, please email
[email protected].
During the month of
December, the Perlite
Institute website had
643 visits and 1,780
page views. Of the
visits, 78.85 percent
were new.
Perlite Newsletter Editor Named
The Perlite Institute, Inc., welcomes Amy Bobb as
its newsletter editor. Responsible for producing the
Perlite Institute’s quarterly
newsletters, Amy works with
contributors and staff to create
content, edits submitted articles
and provides direction on
publication production.
She has been involved in
producing a variety of
publications for more than 25
Amy Bobb
years. For nearly a decade, Amy
was the managing editor of a
magazine at a nonprofit association, where she
wrote articles and laid out the monthly issues as
well as edited a variety of newsletters. Since 2001,
she has served as the copy editor of Pennsylvania
Magazine, a bimonthly
publication focusing on
people, places and things to
see and do in the Keystone State.
Amy holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from
Shippensburg University and a master’s degree in
public administration from the Pennsylvania State
University.
Welcome, New Perlite Institute Member
The following new member recently joined the
Perlite Institute. Let’s help welcome them to
our membership!
Perlitsan Industrial Raw Materials, Inc.
Yeşilköy – İstanbul, Turkey
Good Product Photos Needed
The Communications Committee is seeking photos
for brochures to be updated or revised. Photos
related to the following topics are needed:
•
•
•
•
Horticultural — numerous
Masonry Fill
Texture
Adsorption
Send your photos to
[email protected].
Contact the Editor
Do you have
information to share
with the members of
the Perlite Institute?
Do you want to write
an article for the
newsletter?
Submissions should be sent to the
editor at
[email protected].
PAGE 16
Selected Upcoming Trade Shows and Meetings
Opening
Date
Closing
Date
Name of Show
Location
Website
2/4/13
2/7/13
Mid-America Horticultural Trade Show
Newport News, VA
Newport News Marriott at City Center
http://www.mahsc.org/
2/5/13
2/8/13
World of Concrete
Las Vegas, NV
Las Vegas Convention Center
http://www.worldofconcrete.com/
attendee/show-information.aspx
2/13/13
2/14/13
Landscape Industry Show
Los Angeles, CA
Los Angeles Convention Center
http://www.clca.us/lis/
3/5/13
3/7/13
NESEA Building Energy Conference
Boston, MA
Seaport World Trade Center
http://www.nesea.org/buildingenergy/
about/
3/6/13
3/8/13
Green Cities - Australia
Sydney, AU
Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre
http://www.greencities.org.au/
3/19/13
3/21/13
World of Asphalt/Aggregates Forum
San Antonio, TX
Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center
http://www.worldofasphalt.com/about/
3/20/13
3/24/13
San Francisco Flower & Garden Show
San Mateo, CA
San Mateo Event Center
http://www.sfgardenshow.com/the-show
5/24/13
5/26/13
Roof India
Mumbai, India
http://roofindia.com/
Bombay Exhibition Centre - NSE Exhibition Complex
6/9/13
6/12/13
Western Roofing Expo - 2013
Reno, NV
Peppermill Hotel & Casino
http://www.wsrca.com/
7/31/13
8/1/13
Penn Atlantic Nursery Trade Show
Philadelphia, PA
Pennsylvania Convention Center
http://www.pantshow.com/
8/15/13
8/18/13
Nursery & Landscape Expo
Dallas, TX
Dallas Convention Center
http://www.nurserylandscapeexpo.org 8/21/13
8/24/13
Plantarium
Boskoop, NL
International Trade Centre
http://www.plantarium.nl/Page/nctrue/
ml2/index.html
8/20/13
8/22/13
Independent Garden Center Show
Chicago, IL
Navy Pier
http://igcshow.com/igc2013/public/
enter.aspx
9/19/13
9/20/13
Rock'n Grow
Shawnee, OK
The Heart of Oklahoma Expo Center
http://www.oknla.org/custom/
showpage.php?id=101&toplevel=62
9/19/13
9/21/13
Landscape Show
Orlando, FL
Orange County Convention Center
http://www.fngla.org/
thelandscapeshow/
9/22/13
9/24/13
Farwest Show
Portland, OR
Oregon Convention Center
http://www.farwestshow.com/
Wiesbaden, Germany
Rhein-Main-Hallen
http://www.filtech.de/
10/22/13 10/24/13 Filtech
PAGE 17
Two Revised Product Guides
To view these
product guides and
many more, go to the
Perlite Information Library.

Newsletter 2013 Winter

Transcription

Similar documents

Creating Hypertufa Containers

Hypertufa

Finer Filtration - Australian Perlite

SPILL CENTS BODY FLUID ABSORBENT SDS / MSDS Date

How to Clone and Grow from Seed

Hydroponics: The Easy Ways for Year

pdf file of ebb and flow mini garden