Document jy1a4eEeQ2Kg0GZ8gQJbg7MjZ

X Itv VHU< irV/VJWf* IS I r Asbestos handling is made easier by Nitro company By Tom Buell It LSI N ESS/ LA liOJt EDtTOJi A growing industry has devel oped in West Virginia around the control and removaj of deadly as bestos from homes, buildings and factories. Several companies ar ound the state provide services and know-how to help alleviate the health risks of the once-popular fireproof fiber, In Nitro, tucked in among some chemical and steel fabrication plants, sits a small company that has developed a breakthrough ma terial to make the job of handling asbestos easier and safer. Researchers at Vimasco Corp., which for years has produced la tex-based coatings and adhesives for industrial insulation applica tions, took a simple idea and turned it into a substantial new line of products. With the help of Chicago-based American Coatings Corp., which now sells the products under its label, the company developed EPA 55, the brand name given to a chemical treatment compound, It allows workers on asbestos abatement projects to more easily capture and contain airborne as bestos particles. "We, in conjunction with Ameri can Coatings, developed this prod uct for better penetration of the asbestos fiber," said William Pugh Jr., president of Vimasco. "We produce It exclusively for them, it's as though they're the sales off ice and we're the production de partment [for EPA 55)." Pugh, y?ho took over the compa ny from his father, said Vimasco has contracted with American Coatings for several years, al though there is no corporate con nection between the two compa nies. Vimasco still sells its own lines of industrial coatings and ad hesives, he said. Many asbestos removal compa nies still use the most common method of capturing asbestos par ticles when removing the materi al, which is to wet the asbestos with plain tap water. They also use water mixed with a small amount of soap or surfactant mixed in to make the water cling more easily to the particles. However, there are certain types of asbestos fiber which res ist collection by plain water or "amended water," as the surfac tant mix is called, Pugh said*. These fibers repel the water, which often evaporates too quick- >yJohn Tidquist, Vimasco's techni cal director, was instrumental in the development of EPA 55, which went on the market last spring. In the company's smalt lab, he perfected the product us Nitro's Vimasco Corp. President William Pugh . Jr, (right) and technical director John pholo by KENNY KEWiP Tidquist stand by their asbestos treatment compound and other products. ing what he described as "little bits ol other technology" and a thought he had been mulling over tor a while. "I had heard from contractors that they needed something better (or asbestos abatement, so I bad some ideas that I had been saving up," Tidquist said. "It was a little like paint technology and a little like cooking. We came up with a blend to achieve a certain effect." Since competition is pretty stiff in the small but Increasingly lu crative market, Pugh and Tidquist won't say much about what makes EPA 55 work, what it contains, or even exactly how much they pro duce. "It would be accurate to say that we make several thousand gallons a month," Pugh said. They will say that the product, on which they have a patent pend ing, uses a simple agent to pre vent evaporation and a slightly mysterious chemical bonding pro cess to encapsulate, or grab onto, the asbestos particles. Armed with a biology degree from Alderson-Broaddus College and some graduate courses, Tid quist and his Eab staff took about six months to develop EPA 55, at average development period. A: with other asbestos-related prod ucts, the most important phas. was the field testing process since the U.S. Environmental Pro lection Agency doesn't allow ial testing on actual asbestos. "That meant that in the lab wt have to test the products oo , mineral composite that was simi lar to asbestos, which really isn't the same," Tidquist said. "Tha' makes the field testing essential (Please turn to Page SC, col. 1 Asbestos handling made easier (Ceutiaued from Page 1C) You get a few surprises, but the contractors can tell you a lot about how a product works on the real thing." Most of the raw materials for Vimasco's product line, and all of the ingredients for EPA 55, come from plants in the Kanawha Val ley, Pugh said, explaining that this "backyard" purchasing approach saves on transportation and other costs. The company employs 55 people and has annual sales of several million dollars, he said. "This is definitely a grout area for us," Pugh said. "We al; hope to show growth in othe areas so as not to become too d, pendent on one particular produt or industry." The 42-year-old Pugh, a Char leston native who received an MBA degree from the University of North Carolina, joined the com pany in 1975. He has been presi dent of Vimasco since 1983. He said EPA 55 now represents a substantial amount of Vimasco's business, and expects improve ments in the asbestos control market in the future. When the industry first sprang up around the need for asbestos control, analysts predicted the market would last about five years. Tidquist said that initial five years has passed and the ana lysts are now predicting the mar ket will last 10 to 15 years. L UCC 006332