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"We stay at the 10% coal tar because much higher than that you start getting that coal tar smell and the workers start feeling the burn, and we're very sensitive to those issues in this market," Luzar says.

Vance says that when it comes to blends contractors really need to depend on their supplier. "Your supplier is going to have to know what he's doing because blends are a different animal," Vance says. "Coal tar is a known commodity but blends depend on what you're blending."

Sealer using ceramics
At least two other producers are taking a different approach to the sealcoating market, using ceramics with asphalt material to produce what they say is a new and stronger pavement sealer.

Ronnie Blacklidge, president of Blacklidge Emulsions, says the asphalt-based material they produce relies on a technology based on ceramics developed initially for the space industry. He says the technology enables them to emulsify what's known as "hard pen" asphalt, which has most of the gasoline and light-end oils removed.

"The more of the light-ends you extract, the tougher and harder the asphalt becomes," he says. "Until this process was developed no one had been able to emulsify hard pen asphalt."