A Grand Haven manufacturer of eco-friendly asphalt sealer shipped 4,000 gallons of the product to the United Kingdom last month – the company's first overseas order.
Advanced Seasonal Innovations LLC (ASI) spent the last eight years improving its proprietary environmentally-safe asphalt emulsion product, the latest version of which is
ASI-03.
ASI says that its ASI-03 has low volatile organic compound content, unlike coal tar sealant that has been identified as a
carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer and as a
pollutant by a U.S. Geological Survey. ASI president and owner David Fortenbacher says his ASI-03 product doesn't emit obnoxious fumes, is non-flammable and non-carcinogenic and doesn't present a risk of chemical burn.
"Coal tar sealant manufacturers recommend completely covering up so there's absolutely no physical contact with their product," Fortenbacher says. "They even make and sell a burn cream. Kids could apply our product. In a school playground, I don't want kids running around with bare feet on asphalt sealed with coal tar."
New York chemist Larry Smith formulated the original compound in 1994 as MAC-94. Smith now works with ASI, developing new versions of the product.
ASI sells hundreds of thousands of gallons of ASI-03 annually, Fortenbacher says. Customers range from small contractors to county governments and large municipalities. Many local and state governments have banned the use of coal tar sealants, and that has increased the market potential for ASI-03.
At peak production, ASI employs just 20 people, but the company has doubled its gross revenue every year for the past five years. Fortenbacher predicts more growth is on the way.
"I got a call from the Department of Transportation yesterday and they're looking at spec-ing our product with the state," Fortenbacher says. "And the U.K. approached us to build a plant over there to make the product. I'm open to listening to anything, but talk is cheap, so we'll have to see what happens."
Source: David Fortenbacher, Advanced Seasonal Innovations LLC
Deborah Johnson Wood is development news editor for Rapid Growth Media. She can be contacted at [email protected].
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