Technical Team

Penreco® has been producing the highest quality products including USP/NF grade white oils and USP petrolatum’s for more than 120 years.

Over 20 of those years have been spent perfecting the manufacturing of our gelled hydrocarbon Versagel® product line. These three product lines can be and have all been used in cosmetic, personal care, and pharmaceutical applications. 

With a newly constructed multi-million-dollar manufacturing addition to our Karns City, PA plant we can now offer our customers even more high–quality products. 

Not only do we have the manufacturing and processing experience, but we also have the technical experience and a technical team who is ready to answer any of your technical questions. 

Our technical team consists of five chemists

Mark VoelkerTechnical Director
Working at Penreco since 1992, Mark started as a chemist in the laboratory, moved to lab supervisor in 1994 and then laboratory manager in 2004 being responsible for all of Quality Control at Karns City. In July of 2012 Shipping and Warehouse operations were assigned and the Technical and Product Support responsibilities were given in 2013. The Technical Director position for the Specialty Oils and Waxes business unit, which includes all of Penreco, was accepted in January of 2018. Mark has spent all his time physically in the laboratory; building a strong knowledge base of Petrolatum, White Oil, and Versagel\Versastique products as well as understanding the intricacies of testing and physical characteristics of the products. With significant Pharmacopeia and FDA knowledge, extensive auditing experience, and a thorough insight of the Penreco (Karns City) plant allows for extensive customer collaboration for new products and problem resolution.
Angela ViertelChemist
Angela has been working for our lab for over a decade now. Not only does she play a pivotal role in the production of our Versagel line, but she also supports the plant by running additional tests needed to certify our various other products. Angela makes small scale batches of our Versagel and Versastique products as well as working to develop various prototypes and new formulations for our Versagel and Versastique product lines.
Ryan CameronSenior Development Chemist
Ryan is the newest member of our technical team. He comes to us with a PhD in chemistry and with years of industrial experience. Within that short time, he has already come to know our Versagel and Versastique product line quite well. He has formulation and developmental experience that has aided us in supporting various customer requests.
Tara SeatonProduct Support Specialist
Tara has been working for Penreco for almost seven years now. During that time, she has worked with sales, marketing and our regulatory teams in order to provide technical support to our various customers. She has a very wide knowledge of our Versagel and Versastique products and works closely with our distributors and formulators.
Chelsey KirbyProduct Support Specialist
Chelsey has been with Penreco now for a little over two years. During that time, she has supported customers by providing technical support for the Penreco products lines, including Versagel and Versastique. Chelsey also works closely with our sales team by providing support for our customers in terms of customer trainings and on-site presentations, as well as attending trade shows where she provides technical support.

Our in house team capabilities include product performance and analytical testing. We have state-of-the-art chemical analysis and a product testing lab to service a variety of industries and applications.

Our services include

Physical property analysis including:

  • Viscosity / rheology
  • Appearance / color / odor
  • Appearance / color / odor
  • Stability Testing
  • Product hardness / stick break force
  • % solids and pH
  • Texture analysis –
  • Consistency / Penetration
  • USP and NF testing
  • PAH testing
  • Texture analysis