Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, November 4, 1993                   TAG: 9311040029
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

WESTVACO TO EXPAND IN COVINGTON

Activated carbon, produced by Westvaco only in Covington, is used in pollution-control devices in virtually every automobile made in the United States.

William D. Major, manager of the company's chemical division, said a growing market and new governmental regulations have prompted Westvaco's customers to ask for higher-efficiency carbons.

Installation of the new equipment, which should take about a year, will enable Westvaco to make a new generation of activated carbon that is about three times as effective in absorbing pollutants than the company's first carbon product, which it began making in the 1970s.

Activated carbon is a form of carbon that is riddled with microscopic pores that act like a sponge in absorbing gases.

In a motor vehicle, activated carbon in a cannister - usually in the motor compartment - absorbs gasoline fumes when the car is parked to prevent them from escaping to the atmosphere, where they can damage the Earth's ozone layer.

When the motor is started, a backwash of air cleans the fumes from the filter, passing them through the engine, where they are burned. The carbon is used again and again, for the life of the vehicle.

Automobile makers want a more efficient carbon product because space under a vehicle's hood is limited. The more efficient the carbon, the less space its canister requires.

Demand for the new product also will be affected by federal regulations that would require filters to capture fumes when vehicles are being filled at the pump, explained Michael Massey, manager of Westvaco's Carbon Department.

The carbon is made by treating sawdust with a catalyst and heating it, Massey said. Westvaco buys its sawdust from sawmills in the area around Covington.

Wednesday's announcement marks the second phase of a four-phase expansion of the Covington carbon plant. The project will mean employment of three to four plant operators and the overall expansion, when complete, should create about 15 jobs, Massey said.

The company has no competition in the United States for its automobile business and holds a major share of the business of foreign automakers, he said.