Dry Flowable Adjuvant Composition for Drift Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current agricultural adjuvant compositions with high diammonium sulfate content are inefficient due to high use rates required for effective drift and deposition control, leading to increased costs and compatibility issues with low pH solutions like glyphosate heels, which result in agglomeration and clogging of spray nozzles.
Innovation Solution
A substantially dry, flowable adjuvant composition with a polysaccharide-to-salt ratio of 25:75 to 55:20 by weight, using guar gum and alternative salts like diammonium hydrogen phosphate and sodium carbonate, along with dispersing agents such as sodium polyacrylate, to achieve effective drift and deposition control with lower salt content and improved compatibility in aqueous solutions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If high diammonium sulfate content is used in adjuvant compositions, then proper dispersion and hydration of drift control agents is ensured, but use rate must be high leading to increased costs and shipping/handling burdens
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the chemical composition parameters by replacing diammonium sulfate with alternative salts (ammonium phosphate, ammonium nitrate, potassium sulfate, calcium sulfate) and adjusting the ratio of salt to polysaccharide. This allows achieving proper dispersion and hydration at lower use rates, reducing shipping and handling costs while maintaining effectiveness.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses alternative salt compositions that replicate the functional role of diammonium sulfate in promoting dispersion and hydration, but with different chemical properties that enable lower usage rates. The alternative salts serve as functional copies that achieve the same effect more efficiently.
2Reliability
If high diammonium sulfate content is used in adjuvant compositions, then drift control effectiveness is maintained, but compatibility with low pH solutions like glyphosate heels is poor resulting in agglomeration and clogging
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the salt composition parameters to use alternatives with different solubility and interaction characteristics. These alternative salts are more compatible with low pH environments, preventing the agglomeration and clogging that occurs with diammonium sulfate while maintaining drift control effectiveness.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent converts the potential harm of salt-induced agglomeration into a benefit by selecting alternative salts that promote dispersion in low pH solutions. The alternative salt composition transforms the problematic interaction into a beneficial one, preventing clogging while maintaining effectiveness.
3Quantity of substance
If low use rate formulations are developed with reduced salt content, then costs and shipping burdens are reduced, but dispersion and hydration of polysaccharide may be insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The patent optimizes the composition parameters by adjusting the ratio of alternative salts to polysaccharide and selecting salts with higher efficiency in promoting dispersion. This allows achieving adequate dispersion and hydration at lower use rates, reducing costs while maintaining reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a composite adjuvant composition combining alternative salts with polysaccharides in optimized ratios. This composite formulation achieves synergistic effects that enhance dispersion and hydration efficiency, allowing lower use rates while maintaining or improving performance.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution allows for efficient dispersion and hydration of guar gum in low pH solutions, reducing agglomeration and clogging, and enables lower use rates of adjuvant compositions, thereby reducing costs and improving application efficiency while maintaining effective drift and deposition control.
Implementation Method 1
the high weight percentage of diammonium sulfate is important and necessary relative to the guar to ensure proper dispersion and hydration of the drift reducing agent in the aqueous tank mix
Implementation Method 2
for such deposition control agents to properly hydrate into an aqueous solution, a relatively high amount of diammonium sulfate must also be added with the addition of the deposition control agent
Implementation Method 3
the high weight percentage of diammonium sulfate is important and necessary relative to the guar to ensure proper dispersion and hydration of the drift reducing agent in the aqueous tank mix
Implementation Method 4
for such deposition control agents to properly hydrate into an aqueous solution, a relatively high amount of diammonium sulfate must also be added with the addition of the deposition control agent
Data Source
AI summary
A substantially dry, flowable adjuvant compositions comprising, based on 100 parts by weight (“pbw”) of the adjuvant composition: (a) from about 25 pbw to about 75 pbw of a polysaccharide and (b) from about 75 pbw to about 20 pbw of a salt composition. In one embodiment, the salt composition is diammonium hydrogen phosphate, sodium carbonate or a combination thereof, and the polysaccharide is a derivatized guar. Also disclosed are methods of preparing such agricultural compositions comprising adding, to a heel solution, (a) a water dispersible adjuvant composition, in an amount effective to provide deposition and/or drift control properties, comprising, based on 100 pbw of the adjuvant composition: (i) from about 25 pbw to about 75 pbw of a polysaccharide, and (ii) from about 75 pbw to about 20 pbw of a salt composition, wherein an aqueous solution of the adjuvant composition has a pH value of between about 7 and about 12, and (b) an effective amount of an active. The adjuvant composition can further comprise (iii) from about 20 pbw to about 30 pbw of a dispersing agent, wherein typically the dispersing agent is sodium polyacrylate.