CPS Printing Ink Co. in Wellington is expanding because of a University of Utah policy, called "academic capitalism," that spins off campus research for business purposes.
The company, which extracts fossil resin from Wasatch Plateau coal fields for use in producing inks at its operations in western New York, is now in operation on a small scale, producing 50 percent resin concentrate.A 20,000-square-foot building now under construction will allow the company to produce better than 90 percent concentrate, says John White, CPS general manager. The facility is expected to be completed in June l989 at a cost of $2.7 million.
In an effort to help build the area's economy, the state of Utah and the city of Wellington, near Price, have given CPS a construction loan and a letter of credit, White says.
Production in the new facility will begin with one shift of 15 workers. Plans are to have three shifts going within two years, each of which will employ 10 additional workers.
To extract resin from the coal, White says CPS is using Dr. Jan D. Miller's "controlled oxidation flotation" system, a chemical extraction process. The company has also purchased rights to Miller's "air-sparged hydrocyclone" but is not yet using it. This involves specially designed, high-capacity resin extraction equipment.