Arizona company acquires Indiana-made, soy-based concrete protectant
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Crafco Inc., a manufacturer of pavement preservation products and equipment based in Chandler, Arizona has acquired a soy-based concrete protectant developed in Indiana. Financial terms of the deal for PoreShield were not immediately disclosed.
PoreShield was originally developed through research collaboration involving Purdue University, the Indiana Soybean Alliance and the Indiana Department of Transportation.
Paul Imbrock, a member of the original research team that created PoreShield, said he helped establish field trials and further testing with INDOT after joining with Bernard Tao, professor emeritus of agricultural and biological engineering and food science at Purdue, and Jason Weiss, former Purdue professor of civil engineering.
Tao and Weiss came up with the idea to use soy methyl ester-polystyrene, or SME-PS, as the key ingredient for preserving pavement joints, which Imbrock said INDOT was having trouble with.
“INDOT was experiencing premature saw-cut pavement joint deterioration,” Imbrock said in a news release. “The saw cuts on concrete highways tend to hold water, and deicing salts often are the limiting factor in the service life of concrete pavements. Repairing just the saw-cut joints in concrete pavements is costly and requires closing to traffic or otherwise maintaining traffic patterns for the construction zone.”
SME-PS, which is derived from soybeans, became PoreShield, which is used as a spray product that Crafco says outperforms traditional concrete sealers and has been proven to last over 10 years.
Imbrock told IIB in April the barrier created by PoreShield protects concrete against water, salt, snow melt and the freeze/thaw cycle Indiana roads inevitably face each winter. It is typically used on the entire deck of bridges, but is limited to road joints on highways, which are most susceptible to wear and tear.
Purdue says INDOT used PoreShield on sections of U.S. 24 and Interstates 69 and 65 in 2019. Use of the product saved the department an estimated 20% in both product and labor costs compared to the products and practices previously used.
“You’ve invested millions in a concrete highway, it’s something you want to last for at least two decades, and PoreShield has been proven to extend the life of concrete,” Imbrock said.
As a result of the acquisition, Imbrock has joined Crafco as a technical lead.
PoreShield has since been used by state departments of transportation in Iowa, Nebraska and Wisconsin. Purdue said the product can be used in projects beyond just highways and interstates, such as residential driveways, parking lots and garages, buildings, dams and pipelines.
“PoreShield represents the next generation of pavement preservation products: safer, easier to use and more effective,” Crafco Vice President of Specialty Products Lisa Zentner said. “With this acquisition, Crafco is poised to enter new markets, helping reduce the burden of preserving concrete in a variety of applications. PoreShield is truly the future of concrete preservation.”
Crafco did not specify if any jobs would be affected by the acquisition.