More than just a warm mix
Jun 27, 2017
“Buying Evotherm® isn’t just about buying a warm mix additive,” says Bob Siffert, Technical Marketing Manager at Ingevity. “Buying Evotherm is about all the added value and services Ingevity provides for our customers and partners worldwide. We know that our growth is measured by our customers’ successes. That’s why we are committed to doing much more than just selling an additive.”
Ingevity’s team is comprised of chemists and chemical engineers as well as civil engineers and paving experts. This allows Ingevity to partner with customers and help them overcome tough challenges.
“Although Evotherm has been revolutionizing asphalt paving for the last 12 years, warm mix continues to be adapted in new ways,” explains Siffert. “This makes it even more necessary that our marketing and technical teams be available to customers for more than just selling an additive. Customers find value in having us as a resource in the field before the sale and long after the project is completed.”
Before a project even begins, the Evotherm team provides materials evaluations and laboratory support for potential customers. This is possible with state-of-the-art laboratories at Ingevity’s technical center in North Charleston, S.C., and Tulsa, Okla. When a project begins, the technical team—distributed across the U.S.—is available for production support with pumps to dose Evotherm. Technical and marketing team members are also on the jobsite to troubleshoot and support paving operations. And long after a project is completed, the team can provide long-term performance testing and analysis from our technical centers.
“Last year, I got a call from a contractor who’d recently transitioned their operations to warm mix in order to reduce their environmental footprint,” shares Siffert. “But they were having trouble getting a true WMA temperature.” The customer was experiencing the drag slat filling up with stiff material, which would then amp out at about 260F. This had shut down the plant until the mix could be removed from the drag by hand.
“Our team’s collective knowledge of asphalt plant operations allows us to jump right in and quickly troubleshoot the entire process with a customer,” explains Siffert. In this instance, Ingevity vetted the customer’s situation at their plant, considering Evotherm dosage rates, production temperatures, mix type and binder grade. When the injection system was identified as the likely source of the problem, the team found an issue in the settings used to operate the system. The additive flow rate was too low for the mix production rates. After Siffert and his team helped to correct the dosing problem, the results improved immediately.
“Once production temperatures decreased back down to 260F, perfectly coated warm mix was produced,” explains Siffert. “From drum to drag up into the silo, we finally saw success. This is the perfect example of how we work. We mean it when we say that it’s not just about a quality product. It’s about how we help customers find success throughout their operations by using Evotherm. That’s real value.”
