AgriFi™
North America's premier agri fiber technology and process center. Agri biomasses are derived from plants grown annually for agricultural purposes and are typically byproducts from crops grown for food production. Agri biomasses belong in the same "woody cell" family as trees and can replace wood fiber in most applications, providing improvements in product performance and reductions in overall cost.
Process agri fibers for industry use:
- Bio-energy
- Polymer fillers
- Concrete fillers
- Paper and cardboard fillers
- Particle board and MDF
- Power plant emmissions reduction
- Injection molding processes
- Others
Agri fibers:
- Wheat and Barley straws
- Rice hauls
- Flax
- Kenaf
- Corn
- Hemp
- Bagasse
- Switch grass
- Others
Pictured: Annual wheat straw production and storage cycle.
Benefits of using agri-biomasses include, but are not limited to:
- Improved product performance
- Reduction in raw material costs
- Reduction in process costs
- Increase sustainability of products
- Increase marketability of products
- Proven technologies
AgriFi™ and our other products are produced to support industry's growing demand for natural fibers that are more sustainable and that improve product performance. With an extensive family history in agriculture and agribusiness, we have one of the largest agri fiber supplier networks in North America and the technical knowledge to support industry's transformation to using annually renewable agricultural fibers as opposed to fossil fuels, wood and other less sustainable natural resources in a growing diverse range of applications. Please call or email to learn more about the many benefits agri biomasses provide to industry and the support programs we offer to various manufacturers and their processes.
AgriFi™ - Natural Thermoplastics Filler Technologies
Overview:
Natural fibers, whether derived from wood or agricultural biomasses, make ideal fillers for thermoplastics used in extrusion, injection molding and compression molding processes. They are renewable, cost effective, thus lowering manufacturer's production costs, provide physical property benefits and more such as "green" marketing advantages and code compliance.
However, without the proper pretreatments, natural fibers contain moisture, starches, sugars, lignin and other extractives that create "off-gassing" and other issues under high heat and pressure conditions in polymer processes, thus making them infeasible to use in many cases. AgriFi™ product lines offer solutions to these issues and others with its differing process treatments to agri biomasses which is further supported by our technical assistance.
AgriFi™ Description:
Our thermal mechanical treatment process technologies address all the off-gassing and moisture issues associated with natural fiber polymer fillers by removing the extractives without compromising the integrity of the cellulose and hemicelluose structures of the remaining fibers. AgriFi™, a hydrophobic fiber, provides a number of physical property benefits to products and lowers costs. It's less than carbon neutral, half the density of mineral fillers and allows for exact control of properties.
Production Loading Info:
AgriFi™ technologies can be successfully used as polymer fillers with loading levels as high as 80% by weight depending upon the polymer, process and finished product specs/tolerances. The polymer filler can be dry mixed, compounded into pellets or directly fed into machines depending upon the process and products being manufactured.
Pictured: Different AgriFi™ grades.
Product Specs:
Mesh sizes 40-300
Hydrophobic (does not absorb water)
Process temperatures up to 310º C
Compatible with most polymers and processes.
Color is light to dark brown.
Pelletized: Mixer (Dry):
Pictured: AgriFi™/PP pellets for injection-molding Pictured: AgriFi™/PP for injection-molding
