Copper-based wood preservatives (ACQ/CA-B)

Swiss specialty chemicals company (HQ Basel; private equity portfolio — Bain Capital and Cinven, spun off from Lonza Group in 2021); Arxada's Wood Protection division produces ACQ (Alkaline Copper Quaternary), CDDC-CA (Copper Azole), and other copper-based wood preservative formulations under the Preserve brand. Arxada (formerly Lonza Wood Protection, which itself was formerly Chemical Specialties Inc. / CSI — the North Carolina company that invented ACQ as the CCA replacement) owns the intellectual property on ACQ formulations. The 2004 transition from CCA to ACQ-type preservatives was driven largely by CSI/Lonza's ACQ chemistry — a transition that simultaneously eliminated arsenic from residential pressure-treated lumber supply chains and dramatically increased copper consumption per treated board foot (ACQ requires approximately 5x more copper per treatment than CCA did). Arxada's wood protection IP now sits inside a private equity portfolio after three ownership changes in 15 years.

Leading US producer of carbon compounds and wood preservation chemicals; supplies copper-based preservatives (ACQ, CA-B) to the pressure-treated lumber industry. Also major railroad tie treater.

American wood treatment chemical company (HQ Charlotte NC; private; formerly Osmose Wood Preserving / Wood Treatment Products); produces copper-based wood preservatives including CA-B (Copper Azole Type B), ACQ-D, and micronized copper formulations (MCA, MCQ) for pressure-treated lumber manufacturers. Viance's MCA (Micronized Copper Azole) technology uses nano-scale copper particles suspended in water rather than dissolved copper salts — reducing wood corrosivity with common metals (less reactive to galvanized fasteners and aluminum deck hardware than ACQ dissolved copper). Viance sells directly to pressure-treating plants (Baxter Lumber, Universal Forest Products, Cox Industries) and distributes preservative chemicals into the pressure-treated supply chain serving US home improvement retailers (Home Depot, Lowe's). The connection from Viance's Charlotte NC chemical plant to every deck and ground-contact lumber frame in a US backyard is a supply chain few homeowners contemplate.