Much has changed since the days when a horse and buggy were used to move the rock, but Braen Stone Industries' commitment to its customers, employees, community and the environment has remained as solid as the rocks it excavated. Braen Stone Industries began mining operations in northern New Jersey in 1904. Founded by the Braen family five generations ago, the company is still mining the original quarry. In the century since, Braen has mined additional quarries, opened a recycling and reclamation center, and added asphalt manufacturing to its operations.
Today, the company's Nordberg Crushing Plant in Haledon, NJ produces trap rock aggregates for a wide range of uses. Its granite/gneiss quarry in Ringwood, NJ produces manufactured sand products for use in concrete and masonry.
Braen Stone Industries' asphalt production and recycling operations are also located at the Haledon quarry. For asphalt production Braen operates a Gencor Drum Plant capable of producing 400 tons/hour. A fully automated batch plant is also used to produce hot mix asphalt products and custom designed mixtures.
Braen places great importance on strictly adhering to environmental and safety regulations intended to protect the environment, employees and the community. An important consideration in meeting these guidelines is the effective control of odors related to asphalt production.
Although Braen has never received any complaints about odor, with its closest neighbors a mere 1,000 feet from the edge of the quarry, it's easy to see why the company was eager to avoid becoming a nuisance to the residential community.
The company began using a product to mask the odor of the asphalt during production to meet environmental regulations and out of consideration for neighbors and employees. However, employees who worked with the product in the asphalt plant every day began to experience severe headaches.
The product Braen had been using was essentially a masking agent used to hide odors rather than eliminate them. Concerned that the product chosen was doing more harm than good, Braen began looking for a better solution.
What Braen found and has been using ever since is Ecosorb, a process additive created by Odor Management Inc. Ecosorb creates a neutral atmosphere where the malodor is removed, not replaced with a masking odor. It is effective against both organic and inorganic odors.
Ecosorb asphalt additives can be added directly to asphalt cement, burner fuels and emulsions. By adding a small amount of the correct additive to liquid storage and handling processes, the odorous emissions are significantly reduced, and even eliminated. Odors are managed immediately upon adding Ecosorb and are controlled continuously throughout the production process.
The asphalt producer purchases Ecosorb in 55-gallon drums and adds two pints into the liquid tar during entry into the plant as it is pumped into its tanks. Odors are controlled immediately.
The odor management continues during the manufacturing of asphalt products in plants, as it is loaded into dump trucks for transport to construction sites and even has a lasting effect on odors during road construction with asphalt treated with Ecosorb during production.
Perhaps of greatest consequence to Braen is that the use of Ecosorb has had no negative effects on those who work with it daily. And contrary to the previous product used, Odor Management Inc. is able to provide MSDSs for Ecosorb with an exact presentation of information required by the United States Occupational, Safety, and Health Administration (OSHA).