By: David Banasiak
Located in an upscale office park in a suburb of Jacksonville,
Fla. is an asphalt plant--not exactly the typical neighbor of a
button-down, white collar business community. But if you look
more closely at the plant you will see a green, yellow and white
ecology flag flying on its flag pole just below the American
flag. This flag symbolizes the company's philosophy and its
commitment to the environment. The plant is owned by Duval
Asphalt Products Inc., a company with an award winning history
that attests to its ecologically conscientious attitude.
Each year the National Asphalt Pavement Association (NAPA)
recognizes the achievements of an asphalt plant in the area of
ecology. This year Duval won the award. In 1991 its plant on
West 12th Street, and in 1994 an old batch plant, which
previously occupied the spot of the current award winning plant,
won NAPA's award. The company also was a finalist in 1993. Duval
is the only company to have won this award three times.
When asked why his company is a frequent winner of this award,
Mike Burns, the executive vice president, replied, "We go the
extra mile in terms of appearance." All aspects of the current
plant were carefully planned to ensure that the plant would
protect the environment and enhance its location with its
appearance.
"Perception is 90% of reality in some
people's minds. How you are viewed in your surroundings speaks
volumes as to company attitudes and quality of workmanship,"
said Burns. This is important for an industry that historically
has gotten a bad rap when it comes to aesthetics. It is for this
reason that Duval's plans included landscaping its grounds with
thirty-foot oak trees to beautify the facilities.
Gencor,
the manufacturer of the new plant, also took part in the
planning sessions designed to improve the plant's aesthetics.
The result of this cooperation between plant builder and plant
user is a pleasing paint job, which incorporates Duval's own
corporate colors, striping and logo so the facility will match
the large Duval sign at the entrance.
In addition to
aesthetics Duval installed state-of-the-art systems for storm
drainage, and dust and emissions control. The tank farm for
liquid asphalt storage is all-electric and the facility has the
ability to recycle materials other than pavements.
Duval's new plant also features a new drum, known as the Ultra
drum, manufactured by Gencor. Its design takes into account
Florida's high humidity and can handle 8% to 9% moisture in
virgin material and 6% moisture in recycled asphalt pavement
(RAP). It is a straight drying and heating drum that preheats
RAP in the mixer and can process RAP up to a level of 50%.
In addition the 9-ft diam and 44-ft long drum features
Gencor's 135 million btus per hour total air ultra burner. Duval
runs its new drum at its top rating of 375 tph. Presently Gencor
is building a similar drum for Macasphalt a division of Apac in
Melbourne, Fla.
Maintenance of the plant also plays a
role in Duval's ecological philosophy. "We keep our place very
clean, freshly painted, and up to date. How our neighbors
perceive us is very important. We have never had one complaint
from our neighbors," stated Burns.
Why all the fuss over
coexisting with the environment? Burns explained, "It's the
times that we live in. People are more aware of the environment.
A dirty plant will attract negative scrutiny." Winning three
times in the past five years, Duval has set an example for other
companys that wish to conduct business in harmony with the
environment.
