PVP Industries Rocks It With Perlite, Vermiculite

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“I would like to operate closer to 30 people but with the labor market the way it is right now, we’re holding strong at 20,” he says.

The plant, on nearly 20 acres, includes two 80-by-250-foot buildings which each contain an Incon perlite furnace, and a large fabric structure that houses raw materials. The company also operates a Bouldon Lawson mixing line consisting of five 10-yard hoppers, three small hoppers and a liquid feeder with a 250-gallon storage tank. In addition to selling truckload quantities of perlite and vermiculite, it packages its own products in its easily recognizable white and green bags and does co-packing and private label packing for other companies, some of which end up being sold by aspiring entrepreneurs on Amazon.

“Ten years ago, we would sell one or two truckloads every quarter to Amazon,” Dunlavey says. “Right now, we’re shipping three to five truckloads a week, all throughout the country.”

Another fabric building for warehouse space is expected to be added. Dunlavey is also eying other sites for another perlite factory because of the growth potential.

“I’m doing things to try to advance the company, to keep us relevant in the marketplace and move us into the 21st century of a soil-producing, mineral aggregateproducing operation,” he says. Like others in the horticulture industry, he recognizes how seasonal the market is with companies going through highs and lows.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, when people stayed home from the office, the perlite business, as well as other garden-related product sales, boomed as homeowners worked in their yards and gardens. Vermiculite, however, was in short supply due to supply chain problems, primarily overseas shipping and port issues, Dunlavey says.

“We kind of lost our way prior to Covid,” he reflects. “People got caught up in the rat race of life. Covid sort of slowed us down a little bit. One thing about gardening and having a green thumb is it’s very therapeutic. A lot of people got into it and experienced the stress relief of working in the garden, as well as doing different hobbies and projects.

“Schools are now bringing gardening programs back into the curriculum, offering different classes and more hands-on learning in gardening and landscaping that is critical to society,” he says. “You can’t survive as a society without food. These products [perlite and vermiculite] make poor soil act better and improve the quality so you can have a successful garden. I think every garden should have perlite and vermiculite in it.”

Vermiculite mixes with the soil and helps to retain water; it can soak up more than three times its volume in water. It is typically mixed with soil, peat, composted pine bark, fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides and promotes faster root growth and quick anchorage to young roots.

Perlite increases drainage to the soil and mixes with it. When bulk perlite is mixed with organic compost, natural soils or composted bark, it helps anchor the roots of young plants so they grow stronger. Both have neutral pH levels. and help with soil aeration.

“Wherever there’s sandy soil, there’s a perlite or vermiculite particle size that can help,” Dunlavey says. “If you have clay-like soil, you want the bigger particles because it helps break the clay apart. If you have soil that is too moist, you want bigger particles so more air gets to the roots. If you’re in a very dry environment like California or Arizona, you want finer particles because they maintain more moisture. It’s very adaptive.”

Dunlavey sees huge growth potential in the construction industry, where perlite is already used in such things as ceiling tiles, roof insulation products, pipe insulation, filling in masonry block construction, and refractory bricks designed to withstand very high temperatures.

“Construction applications for expanded perlite are numerous because it is fire resistant, an excellent insulator, and lightweight,” the U.S. Geological Survey notes, adding “Novel and small markets for perlite have increased during the past 10 years; cosmetics, environmental remediation, and personal care products have become increasing markets for perlite.”

Perlite is also used as a filter aid in industries ranging from food processing to pharmaceuticals. It is also used in water and wastewater treatment.

Another growing market Dunlavey sees is controlled environment agriculture (CEA), which creates a fully controlled environment to optimize horticultural practices for growing high-quality plants.

PVP Industries uses between 10,000 and 17,500 tons of perlite annually, the equivalent of 100 to 175 one-hundred-ton rail cars. Vermiculite usage is about 40 percent of that total and is brought in by truck and shipping container.

The company’s primary source of perlite -- a pure naturally occurring volcanic glass created when volcanic obsidian glass gets saturated with water over a long period of time -- comes primarily from mines in Oregon and California. Deposits are located from Alaska to the Panama Canal, throughout the entire Rocky Mountain region and in Greece, Turkey and China.

Continued www.SoilandMulchProducerNews.com

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