Frank, could you please share a bit about yourself, your company and your role within the organization?

As a Ph.D. chemist, I have deep roots in both the R&D and consumer sides of innovation.  With 30 years of experience, I’ve been identifying business opportunities while leading product/technology development from start-ups to Procter & Gamble.  

At Lignetics, I lead a dedicated team focused on identifying the most valuable uses, environmentally and economically, for residual biomass.  More simply, we keep sawdust from heading to a landfill by finding unique and useful uses for it.  One area in particular that we’ve been putting a lot of focus on is wood flour, which we view as having tremendous untapped potential in composite materials and products.

Without giving too much away, what's the central idea or key takeaway you want attendees to grasp from your presentation?

We’ve developed a form of wood flour that makes it very easy for any compounder to use.  The traditional issues associated with a low density, flammable material have been addressed, while still being very readily dispersed.

It’s a practical solution that makes bio-content achievable in your formulations today.

Why is now the right time for this topic? What current trends or challenges make your insights particularly relevant for attendees at this expo?

Many manufacturers and brands want to increase the renewable content of their products, but face markets that aren’t willing to pay more for the environmental benefit. Our solution addresses that dilemma directly: bringing bio-content into formulations while lowering overall cost.

This isn’t something that’s “in development” or “coming soon.” It’s proven, scalable, and available today.

What specific problem or challenge will your presentation help attendees solve, or what opportunity will it help them unlock?

Most importantly, our solution makes wood flour easy to use!

We’re also a large company with 28 manufacturing locations across North America, so a reliable supply chain is in place and ready to go.

Could you share a brief, intriguing glimpse into something unexpected or particularly compelling you'll be discussing in your session?

While we’ve developed our “easy-to-use” wood flour solution with customers and partners, we’ve also uncovered new ways to make wood do more – in more applications than ever. We have a healthy R&D pipeline of innovative materials and processes that are not only exciting, but position wood to lead the next wave of sustainable product development.

Who will benefit most from attending your session, and why should they make sure to include it in their expo schedule?

Anyone looking to increase the bio-content of their products without cost barriers will get a practical solution handed to them in the session!

Those with some experience in using wood flour or other biofillers, will learn how using it just became much easier.

What personal experience or insight led you to focus on this particular topic for your expo presentation?

A few years ago, when we really started focusing on developing new forms and properties of wood flour to access new markets, we found a lot of interest, but also hesitation. Low-cost bio-content is appealing, but the material’s low density and flammability made it challenging to handle and integrate.

We realized that before tackling new performance characteristics like waterproofness or thermal stability, we had to solve the fundamental usability problem: making the material’s form compatible with real-world manufacturing systems.

Beyond your presentation, what are you most excited about seeing or experiencing at this year's expo?

Lots!  On the technical side, this industry represents such an interesting interplay between materials and processes.  There have been amazing advances since the early days of celluloid and Bakelite, and we’re ready to help drive the industry forward!

🗓️ Catch Frank Kvietok at the Compounding World Expo North America, where he’ll share expert insights into using lignocellulosics as performance additives in bioplastics.