December 2010
Christmas is the season for kindling the fire of hospitality in the hall, the genial flame of charity in the heart These are words from the infamous Washington Irving in the mid 1800's. This timeless quote is the essence of the season and once a year we are reminded about the power of giving, whether the gift is in a form of a present or in the strength of a kind word.
So in the spirit of the holiday season, we want to dedicate this month's newsletter to you, our valued customers. All of us at Carbon Resources want to extend a sincere "Thank You" to each and everyone one of you. Our expressions of gratitude for your loyalty and the trust you have placed in us can not be expressed in words.
May you all enjoy the gifts of good health, family and friends and wishing that 2011 be a joyous New Year!
October 2010
Carbon Resources Makes Inc. Magazine’s Exclusive List of America’s Fastest-Growing Private Companies and Best of Oceanside Business Award for the Second Consecutive Year.
In August 2010, Inc. Magazine published their fourth annual Inc. 5000 exclusive ranking of the nation’s fastest-growing private companies and Carbon Resources is proud to have made a spot in the top half of that list. There are over 18 million businesses in the US and this list represents the most comprehensive look of these companies measuring the largest percent gain in employees and sales from 2006-2009. This list includes prominent brands such as 7-Eleven and the iconic Radio Flyer.
The Inc. 5000 list tends to capture the larger, more mature companies over the Inc. 500, even outlining some with revenues well into the billions. The biggest gain this year in terms of number of companies was the Government Services sector which was up 33 percent from last year and posted a 202 percent gain. Despite the fact that most of this year’s measuring period of 2006-2009 took place during the latest recession, aggregate revenue among the companies on the list grew more than 50 percent over last year illustrating an increase to the tune of $321.6 billion. The effects of the recession are seen, however, in the median three-year growth rate which dropped to 96 percent from last years 126 percent.
In addition to the prestigious Inc. 5000 recognition, Carbon Resources was also recognized as the Best Of Oceanside Companies two years in a row. Only 1.4% 2010 Award recipients qualified as a Two-Time Award winners by the United States Commerce Association. This award is given to those companies who have achieved exceptional success in their local community and business category.
Carbon Resources is one of the top companies involved in supplying activated carbon to the North American market and is deeply committed to their customers. Kimberly Walsh, Director of Marketing, noted that quality brand recognition of our Sabre Series® products in coconut, sub-bituminous coal and wood activated carbons was one of the reasons for our rapid growth. “We pay attention to quality and support our customers technically as well as being focused on superb customer service. With our new JV plant on line and our recent exclusive manufacturing contract with an Asian manufacturer, we are well positioned to see this trend continue in 2011” stated Kimberly.
September 2010
Robert Potwora writes article in Water Quality Products Magazine
In the September issue, the Water Quality Products Magazine published an article written by Robert Potwora titled, “MTBE REMOVAL WITH ACTIVATED CARBON”. Methyl tertiary-butyl ether (MTBE) use as a gasoline additive has mainly been phased out, but it still persists in the environment. MTBE contaminated groundwater from leaking underground storage tanks is a widespread problem. Due to the chemical properties of MTBE, many activated carbons do not adsorb MTBE well. A special coconut shell-based activated carbon like Carbon Resources sabre® C series is required. Sabre® C series has a higher capacity for MTBE than many other activated carbons. The costs savings using sabre® C series with less frequent change-outs required is significant.
See
article link for full article.
July 2010
Carbon Resources Selects Hawkins Water Treatment Group for Distributorship
Carbon Resources has signed an exclusive distributor agreement with Hawkins Water Treatment Group out of Minneapolis, MN to distribute the NSF 61 certified Sabre Series CR325AA-10 powder activated carbon in the municipal market. Hawkins will be responsible for following 16 states: Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Oklahoma, Ohio, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Tennessee and Wisconsin. “The Hawkins Water Treatment Group is very synergistic to our marketing approach in that we use technical sales people that understand customer needs and product application.” States Kimberly Walsh, Director of Marketing.
The Hawkins Water Treatment Group, part of Hawkins, Inc., supplies products and equipment to treat drinking water, municipal and industrial wastewater, industrial process water, and non-residential swimming pool water. They have 16 branch offices covering 15 states in the heartland. They utilize a route/salesperson approach in supplying products and equipment to their customers. Each branch has several driver/technician/salesperson trained to handle on-the-spot service on the equipment they sell, as well as helping our customers find system solutions.
Hawkins Product Development Manager, Mark Oberhelman commented. “Carbon Resources superior product has been proven by several municipalities to outperform the traditional powder activated carbon products on the market. We have conducted head to head evaluations against competitive products and demonstrated superior performance in both taste and odor and TOC removal applications With their years of experience in activated carbon as well as their technical and customer service support; we found them to fit in perfectly with our business model."
June 2010
Another Successful Year at American Water Works Association
Carbon Resources exhibited at the ACE10 American Water Works Association tradeshow that was held this month in Chicago, Illinois. An informal survey was conducted by Janney Capital Markets with roughly 100 exhibitors**. About 70% of the respondents felt sales were either on par or up by single digits versus one year ago and most expected sales to accelerate in the next year with 40% expecting double-digit growth. We anticipate that some of this growth will be coming from the disinfectant by-product rule mandated by the EPA that goes into law in 2012.
There was strong interest in our Sabre Series™ CR325AA powder activated carbon especially for those municipalities that do performance based bidding. This product has proven time and time again to be the most cost effective product for geosmin and MIB removal. Carbon Resources will even offer comparative testing in some cases, to those municipalities that currently don’t have a system in place to allow for performance based bidding.
Committee member Robert Potwora, Carbon Resources’ Technical Director, attended the AWWA Standards Committee meeting on Activated Carbon held during the event. The committee is currently updating the B604-05 Granular Activated Carbon standard for drinking water. An updated standard is expected to be released this year and Carbon Resources will update our readers when it becomes available.
Carbon Resources would like to congratulate Mr. Robert Maul of American Water Co.-Western Division, St. Louis, MO. Mr. Maul was the winner of the iPod touch drawing that Carbon Resources offered during this event. Thank you to everyone who stopped by our booth and introduced yourselves.
Next year the American Water Works Association ACE11 will be held in Washington DC from June 12-16. Carbon Resources will be exhibiting and potentially presenting a technical paper.
**Janney Capital Markets Equity Research Industry Report June 28, 2010.
May 2010
Robert Potwora Attends ASTM International D-28 Committee Meeting
The spring meeting of the ASTM International D-28 Activated Carbon Committee was held April 19 in St. Louis. This was the first meeting Robert Potwora presided in his newly elected position as Vice-Chairman. In this position he also serves as the committees Membership Chairman. There were several attendees representing the manufacturing side and end users of activated carbon as well as new affiliates accepted. A web based teleconference was held for members who could not attend.
There were several items regarding long term and short term projects covered at this meeting for liquid phase and gas phase testing. One of the items being reviewed was the need for a precision and bias statement for the pH test method. Carbon Resources will participate in an interlaboratory study to generate this data. Also up for discussion was the status on the development of a new test method to measure the adsorptive capacity of activated carbon for mercury in flue gas. The flue gas market could be one of the largest single markets for activated carbon and standardization is critical. It was unanimously decided that there is a growing need for standardized test methods and because of this, the committee is planning to conduct a teleconference in August in order to keep the development of these standardized tests progressing.
The next regular meeting is scheduled for October 11 in San Antonio. At this meeting there will be more discussions on refining some of the definitions and a review of potential university studies.
March 2010
Our Lucky 13th Year at the Water Quality Trade Show!
Carbon Resources exhibited for the thirteenth year in a row at the Water Quality Association that was held in Orlando, Florida on March 9th through the 12th. We emphasized our Spartan Series® and Sabre Series® activated carbons, which meets the strict California standard for arsenic elution. The Spartan Series® is surface modified to enhance the removal of specific compounds such as chloramines and hydrogen sulfides and has proven to be one of the best on the market. Our standard Sabre Series® products have been used for years in the carbon block market meeting the strict California standard for arsenic elution. Congratulations to David Byrnes at Access Business Group for winning the iPod Touch. David’s business card was randomly selected from over a hundred entries and we hope he enjoys it!
Carbon Resources Will be Exhibiting at the California/Nevada AWWA Conference in Hollywood, CA on March 31st
This year’s program is called “In The Trenches”. The hot topics and seminars will be on treatment of hexavalent chromium and will include a technical tour of the Los Angeles-Glendale Water Reclamation Plant, communicating with your customers during an emergency and traffic work zones and a tour of the Metropolitan Water District’s Jensen Filtration plant where the participants will be able to view the various treatment steps.
Carbon Resources will be emphasizing our Sabre Series® CR325AA-10 high activity, performance based powder activated carbon that is proving to be one of the best powder activated carbons on the market for taste and odor.
February 2010
NSF 61 Certified Sabre Series® CR325AA-10 Wins Performance Based Bid
Carbon Resources recently received NSF 61 certification on their Sabre Series® granular and powder activated carbon for municipalities and wins a performance based bid for the Washington County Water Conservancy District. “Winning this bid at Washington County Water Conservancy District in St. George, Utah solidified all our outside laboratory testing that proved the Sabre Series® CR325AA-10 outperforms most of the commercially available powdered activated carbons on the market for taste and odor. In fact, in this specific test, it outperformed 11 products that were made from wood, coal and lignite based powders” states Robert Potwora, Technical Director. “There are several other municipalities testing this product who are also seeing similar results and we anticipate a large demand for this product.”
January 2010
Robert Potwora Elected Vice Chairman of ASTM International D-28 Committee
Robert Potwora, Technical Director Carbon Resources, was named Vice Chairman of ASTM International D-28 committee. His term is for two years. The committee is responsible for the development of definitions of terms and nomenclature, methods of test for activated carbon, and the promotion of research in this field. The committee oversees 5 subcommittees; liquid phase tests, gas phase tests, nomenclature, long range planning and executive. Currently 28 standards are under the jurisdiction of this committee. The committee is currently working on new standards for floaters in activated carbons, vapor pressure drop through activated carbons and adsorptive capacity for mercury in flue gas. The committee will meet this spring in St. Louis and this fall in San Antonio.