Ecosorb Helps Braen Stone Industries Eliminate Odor Control Headaches

Braen Stone Industries began mining operations in northern New Jersey in 1904. Founded by the Braen family five generations ago, Stone Industries is still mining the original quarry. In the century since, they’ve mined additional quarries, opened a recycling and reclamation center, and added asphalt manufacturing to their operations.

Today Braen Stone Industries’ Nordberg Crushing Plant in Haledon, N.J. produces trap rock aggregates for a wide range of uses. Their granite/gneiss quarry in Ringwood, N.J. produces manufactured sand products of the highest quality and to the most stringent gradations for use in concrete and masonry.

Braen Stone Industries’ asphalt production and recycling operations are also located at the Haledon quarry. For asphalt production they operate a Gencor Drum Plant capable of producing 400 tons/hour. A fully automated batch plant is also used to produce hot mix asphalt products and custom designed mixtures.

Much has changed since the days when a horse and buggy were used to move the rock, but the company’s commitment to its customers, employees, community and the environment has remained as solid as the rocks they excavate.

Braen Stone Industries places great importance on strictly adhering to environmental and safety regulations intended to protect the environment, their employees and their community. An important consideration in meeting these guidelines is the effective control of odors related to asphalt production.

Although Braen Stone Industries has never received any complaints about odor, with their closest neighbors a mere 1,000 ft. from the edge of the quarry it’s easy to see why the company was eager to avoid becoming a nuisance to their residential community.

The company began using a product to mask the odor of the asphalt during production to meet environmental regulations and out of consideration for their neighbors and employees. However, employees that worked with the product in the asphalt plant every day began to experience severe headaches.

The product Braen Stone Industries had been using was essentially a masking agent used to hide odors rather than eliminate them. It came in two scents, pine or cherry, and employees expressed that even a drop on their clothes would create a scent that was so overpowering it would make them sick.

Concerned the product they had chosen was doing more harm that good, Braen Stone Industries began looking for answers. Upon researching the Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDSs) for the product they discovered that there was actually very little data to be found. Deciding that this was not the product they wanted to use at their plant Stone Industries searched for a better solution for odor management.

What they found and have been using ever since is Ecosorb, a process additive created by OMI Industries. Ecosorb creates a neutral atmosphere where the malodor is removed, not replaced with a masking odor. It is effective against both organic and inorganic odors.

Ecosorb asphalt additives can be added directly to asphalt cement, burner fuels and emulsions. By adding a small amount of the correct additive to liquid storage and handling processes, the odorous emissions are significantly reduced, and even eliminated. Odors are managed immediately upon adding Ecosorb and are controlled continuously throughout the production process.

Braen Stone Industries purchases Ecosorb in 55-gallon drums and adds 2 pints into the liquid binder during entry into the plant as it is pumped into their tanks. Odors are controlled immediately. The odor management continues during the manufacturing of asphalt products in plants, as it is loaded into dump trucks for transport to construction sites and even has a lasting effect on odors during road construction with asphalt treated with Ecosorb during production.

Perhaps of greatest consequence to Braen Stone Industries is that their use of Ecosorb has had no negative effects on those that work with it daily. And contrary to the previous product they had been using, OMI Industries is able to provide MSDSs for Ecosorb with an exact presentation of information required by the United States Occupational, Safety, and Health Administration.

Ecosorb is not-toxic, non-hazardous and biodegradable. It contains no harmful VOCs, and is safe for both humans and the environment. Using Ecosorb has allowed Stone Industries to eliminate, not just mask odors, as well as be confident that they are using a product manufactured by a company whose quality and environmental standards are as high as their own.