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Preservative developer CitroTech Inc., Denver, Co., and adhesives manufacturer Hexion Inc. have formed a 50/50 joint venture to produce and distribute next-generation fire-retardant solutions for the lumber and building materials industry.
Based in Greenwood Village, Co., HexiTech LLC will oversee production of CitroTech preservative at existing Hexion manufacturing facilities globally, depending on customer demand and logistics—although exact locations have not yet been finalized.
These facilities already have the capability and footprint to manufacture similar chemistries, which is what makes the distributed model viable.
As for the number of facilities that will produce CitroTech, it anticipates that "dozens” of facilities will eventually produce CitroTech. The preservative will then be sold into the market for use by wood treaters and manufacturers, who apply it to lumber, plywood, OSB and EWP.
HexiTech LLC is a Delaware corporation, with Wes Bolsen, president of CitroTech, also serving as president of the joint venture.
Bolsen and Hexion president and CEO Michael Lefenfeld will serve on a three-member board to oversee strategic direction and governance.
The joint venture will develop and expand on CitroTech’s intellectual property and accelerate the manufacturing and sales of products. Hexion has committed capital to support commercialization, reflecting its confidence in the technology and its potential to raise the industry standard for fire protection in wood products.
“We’re accelerating a shift away from pressure-treated wood products, which can compromise structural integrity and introduce health and environmental concerns, toward a new era of built-in fire protection,” said Bolsen. “In the face of a growing wildfire crisis, builders, contractors, and homeowners need fundamentally better solutions. This is about setting a new standard for achieving the highest levels of fire protection—with a solution that soaks in to penetrate wood and lumber at the molecular level without compromising performance, enabling more resilient infrastructure at unprecedented scale.”
“The wood products industry is ready for a new standard in fire protection, and Hexion is positioned to lead that shift,” added Hexion's Lefenfeld. “This partnership reflects a clear strategic priority: bringing differentiated, high-value technologies to the building and construction market at commercial scale. By combining CitroTech’s breakthrough chemistry with Hexion’s manufacturing strength, technical depth, and commercial reach, we can help customers build fire performance directly into the production process more efficiently, more reliably, and at far greater scale.”
