PVP Industries Rocks It With Perlite, Vermiculite

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“Although China was the leading producer, most of its perlite production was thought to be consumed internally,” according to 2022 statistics from the USGS. “Greece and Turkey remained the leading exporters of perlite.”

PVP Industries takes perlite in its raw glass form and heats it to approximately 1400 degrees Fahrenheit so the moisture inside the glass evaporates and creates tiny bubbles.

“This heating process expands the raw perlite glass up to 20 times its original volume, so one 100ton rail car [of perlite] can expand to 20 rail cars,” Dunlavey says.

“Many compare this process to that of popping corn kernels,” he adds. “When corn is in its raw kernel state and then heated, the kernel expands (or pops), turns white and is extremely lightweight.”

The material is then screened for different particle sizes and sold to industry. The horticulture market prefers the bigger material while the industrial and construction industries prefer the smaller material.

Because both horticultural perlite and vermiculite are lightweight, they are ideal for use in rooftop gardens. A perlite and peat moss mixture can reduce planter weight by at least 60 percent compared to regular wetted soil, according to the Perlite Institute, an international trade association based in Harrisburg, PA.

While perlite is abundant – less than 2 percent of the reserves worldwide have been used, Dunlavey estimates – vermiculite is a much rarer mineral. PVP’s primary source of finer grade vermiculite comes from mines in Virginia and South Carolina; coarser grade vermiculite comes from Africa, brought in by shipping container. Other sources include Turkey, China and Brazil.

“The United States, Africa and China are the three biggest players in the vermiculite world,” he says, adding that its cost is usually twice the price of perlite.

“The majority of our business is perlite, but we sell vermiculite because the two kind of go together,” explains Dunlavey, who is serving his third term on the board of directors of the Perlite Institute.

PVP Industries sells horticultural perlite and vermiculite to the professional market as well as offering custom blend soilless mixes.

“We will blend to any formula a customer desires,” Dunlavey says. “We prefer if it uses perlite or vermiculite as an ingredient, but it doesn’t have to.”

The company features a range of consumer products, including perlite grow bags for new plants, rooting cuttings and hydroponic gardening. The company also markets its Magik-Moss line on a primarily regional basis that includes a potting soil containing vermiculite, perlite and peat; an African violet potting soil; a cactus potting soil, and a seed starter soil mix. Both the seed starter and the potting soil mix contain the same soil mixes used in the company’s professional growing media.

Being a smaller company with extensive experience in the industry allows PVP to give more personal service to customers, according to Dunlavey. And offering both bulk perlite and vermiculite gives the company an edge on its competition, he adds.

“Most perlite companies just do perlite, or vermiculite companies just do vermiculite. Some do both out of the same plant. We do them both here regularly,” he says. “We know how to run perlite and vermiculite through the same furnace. We figured it out, out of necessity 40 years ago, of how to make it work and we’ve been doing it ever since.”

Dunlavey says PVP Industries likes to adhere to the KISS method of doing business by keeping things as simple as possible.

“The KISS method goes great with perlite,” he says. “There’s nothing complicated. It’s a rock. It came from a lava flow. We humans know how to use rocks in so many ways.”