A.P. Green Industries, headquartered in Mexico, Missouri, was a major manufacturer of refractory products — fire brick, castable refractory, insulating firebrick, and refractory mortars — for high-temperature industrial applications including the refractory systems used in US Navy ship propulsion boilers. A.P. Green refractory products appeared in Navy boiler firebox construction and repair, providing the heat-resistant lining required to protect boiler structure from the extreme temperatures of Navy boiler combustion. Certain A.P. Green refractory product formulations used asbestos fiber as a component in insulating castable and refractory cement products.

Asbestos in A.P. Green Refractory Products

A.P. Green manufactured refractory products that incorporated asbestos:

  • Insulating castable refractory — A.P. Green insulating castable refractory products used for the insulating backup layers behind the hot-face firebrick in Navy boiler fireboxes incorporated asbestos fiber as a reinforcing and insulating component in the castable formulation. Boiler Technicians mixing and applying A.P. Green insulating castable during boiler rebricking operations generated asbestos fiber during the mixing and application of dry castable material
  • Asbestos refractory cement — A.P. Green refractory mortars and cements used for setting firebrick and sealing refractory joints in Navy boiler fireboxes incorporated asbestos fiber in some formulations, with the mixing and application of dry mortar releasing asbestos fiber in the boiler firebox environment
  • Plastic refractory with asbestos — A.P. Green plastic refractory materials used for patching and repairing boiler firebox refractory in the field between formal rebricking operations used asbestos as a fiber reinforcement component in early product formulations

A.P. Green refractory products served critical functions in Navy propulsion boiler maintenance:

  • Boiler firebox rebricking — the periodic complete rebricking of Navy boiler fireboxes to replace worn and spalled firebox refractory used refractory materials from A.P. Green and other suppliers throughout the Navy fleet. BT ratings performing firebox rebricking operations worked in the confined firebox environment with refractory materials containing asbestos in the insulating backup courses and refractory mortar
  • Hot patch and emergency repair — the emergency repair of spalled or cracked firebox refractory using plastic refractory or castable patch material was performed by BT ratings during boiler operations, with emergency refractory repair exposing BTs to asbestos-containing patch materials in the confined firebox space
  • Boiler front wall and burner register refractory — the front wall, burner register, and associated refractory construction in Navy boilers used A.P. Green and competitor refractory products in the surrounding structure

VA Claims for Veterans Exposed to A.P. Green Industries Products

VA presumptive service connection under 38 CFR § 3.309(d) covers asbestos exposure from refractory work in Navy boiler rooms. Boiler Technicians who performed boiler firebox rebricking and repair using A.P. Green and other asbestos-containing refractory products and have since been diagnosed with mesothelioma, asbestosis, or asbestos-related lung cancer may qualify for VA disability benefits.