Birtley: Business diversification paves way for prosperity in US

Five years after building a 70,000 square-foot facility in Lexington, Kentucky, Birtley Industrial Equipment, a wholly owned subsidiary of Shandong Borun Process Industrial Technology Co Ltd, is on the path to expand its business and prosper.

Birtley experienced a downturn in the coal-mining industry right after being acquired by Borun in 2013. To survive, the company turned a couple of years ago to developing business in environmental protection while trying to maintain its operation in coal processing equipment.

Over the past year, as the coal industry recovers in the United States, Birtley’s coal-related business has revived. Moreover, the company now enjoys a wider scope of operations, especially by doing an increasing number of environmental projects in China.

“We had to develop business in environment protection sector to deal with the mining industry downturn, and we have had good success in this aspect over the last two years,” said Zhao Chaoxun, general manager at Birtley.

By working with US partners, Birtley has completed more than 10 industrial hazardous waste treatment projects in China so far, covering solid waste, wastewater and waste gas treatment, Zhao said.

One type of project deals with dangerous emissions produced by refinery factories and chemical plants. The waste is collectively called volatile organic compounds (VOCs).

“A lot of emission contains VOCs, which are harmful if directly released into the air. We employ technologies such as the regenerative thermal oxidizer (RTO) to destroy VOCs in the waste gas, thus preventing the harmful matter from entering the environment people live in,” Zhao said.

Birtley is also involved in dealing with treatment of hazardous wastes such as fly ash produced from municipal solid waste (MSW) incineration in China.

“The United States has the luxury to use landfill to dispose most of the waste, including fly ash, but China does not have that space due to population density, especially on the east and south coasts. Plus MSW incinerator fly ash contains toxic heavy metals, which are being banned” at landfills. Zhao said.

Working with US partners, Birtley has helped to bring plasma gasification technology to China.

“Plasma gasification technology uses extreme high temperature to process harmful wastes and convert the organic components in the waste into syngas for power generation or generating fuels. The inorganic components can be turned into inert slag,” Zhao explained.

The company is also doing better than before in its primary business of producing coal washing equipment, Zhao said.

Birtley is one of the only two companies in the US with capability to produce and supply coal screen bowl centrifuges and provide screen bowl centrifuge rotator rebuild service. The coal industry’s revival enables the company to be able to make sales.

In addition, Birtley started to get contract work from some larger corporations, including the US subsidiary of Komatsu of Japan, a large manufacturer of construction and mining equipment, utilities, forest machines and industrial machinery.

“We have just completed and delivered a more than 50-foot-long conveyor feeder for Komatsu and are getting ready to work on the next one,” Zhao said.

He said that Birtley’s ability to procure business from Komatsu illustrates the ups and downs of the industry.

Birtley also does contract work for the US subsidiary of South Korea’s Clark Material Handling Co and other companies in Kentucky. “I think we have built credibility in quality and ability to deliver. We are getting more and more business now,” Zhao said.

Like many other enterprises, Birtley is also affected by the current tariff war between the US and China. “We have had shipments from China in July, August and September, and every shipment got caught in some newly imposed tariffs. We just have to pass that extra cost on to our customers,” Zhao said.

He said that in the coming year, Birtley may explore some environmental projects in the United States.

“I am not sure, since it’s more complicated and difficult in the US to push for the type of projects than what we are doing in China. But I think we will get there as long as we keep working on it,” he said.