Charleston Regional Development Alliance

Berkeley, Charleston & Dorchester Counties

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North Charleston-based Asphalt Innovations turns waste into helpful product

Oct. 1, 2004
Charleston Post and Courier
Most people in the Charleston area probably think of MeadWestvaco as just a paper company, but one of its fastest-growing divisions is helping cut the cost and the environmental damage of road-paving across the United States, in Europe and all the way to China.

The Asphalt Innovations operation, headquartered in North Charleston, is still a tiny part of the giant Connecticut-based company's business, but it has already grown to become the world's biggest supplier of specialty chemicals for the paving industry. And it makes those chemicals entirely from byproducts of MeadWestvaco's wood-processing activities, which not only cuts down on environmental emissions but turns what once was considered waste into a profit-making product.

"The idea is using byproduct chemicals from trees so you don't have to dispose of them or burn them, but turn them into industrial reusable chemicals," said Asphalt Innovations chief Andrew Crow.

"All of our products are based on tree chemicals, things like rosins, lignins, fatty acids from the tree itself," he added. "Those are the building blocks of our products."

Until recently, Asphalt Innovations was a unit within MeadWestvaco's Specialty Chemicals division, but the company has now set it up as a standalone operation.

"In the last two years the Asphalt Innovations brand came alive," Crow said.

What has made the operation a success is the usefulness and environmental friendliness of its products, Crow explained.

"Asphalt normally has to be kept at 300 degrees for paving," he noted. The company's additives and emulsifiers allow pavers to mix asphalt with cold water and still produce a hard, durable paving material.

"When you convert to water-based, it's essentially at room temperature," he said. "When you're not dealing with 300-degree asphalt, you reduce the worker exposure and the environmental aspect."

The company also makes chemicals that can be applied to road surfaces to help them last longer, something that makes the product popular with the governments that have to pay for most roads.

When a road does need to replaced, Asphalt Innovations also has products that can help make that process cheaper and more environmentally friendly.

"There's a big movement in the industry to recycle asphalt," Crow said. "In effect, we're recycling roads."

Crow, a Charleston-area native and long-time MeadWestvaco employee, worked as a product manager for the company in Brussels, Belgium, before returning to Charleston to take charge of Asphalt Innovations.

A graduate of Clemson University with a degree in chemistry, he clearly still enjoys the science behind his company's products as much as the business side of his work.

"The most rewarding thing for me is the innovative spirit, the sense that we're developing new things that haven't been done before, and then taking them out into the world," he said. "You're getting wide experiences and meeting people. Of course, it helps having a company that enthusiastically supports that kind of development program."


MEADWESTVACO CORP.

ASPHALT INNOVATIONS

Location: 5255 Virginia Ave., North Charleston

Top executive: Andrew Crow

Employees: 25


CHALLENGE

"It's a challenge getting people to take a risk and accept new technology. In developing and implementing a new product, there's huge technical support required. The technical support group based here does provide over-the-top technical support."

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