AGROCHEMICAL GRANULES MADE OF POLYALKOXYLATE, DISPERSANT, SUGAR, AND POLYVINYLPYRROLIDONE

Abstract

A granular composition comprising a pesticide, 0.1 to 10 wt % of a nonionic amphiphilic polyalkoxylate, at least 20 wt % of a solid water-soluble anionic dispersant, at least 5 wt % of a sugar, which is a mono- or disaccharide, or a mixture thereof, and a polyvinylpyrrolidone is provided. Methods for the preparation of the granular composition including the steps of (i) providing an aqueous suspension comprising the pesticide, the polyalkoxylate, the dispersant and the sugar, (ii) drying the aqueous suspension, and (iii) granulating the aqueous or dried suspension, and wherein the polyvinylpyrrolidone is added in step (i) and/or step (iii) are further provided. Methods for controlling at least one of phytopathogenic fungi, plant growth, attack by insects or mites, and/or for regulating the growth of plants, wherein the composition is allowed to act on the particular pests, their habitat, the undesired or useful plants, and/or the soil are further provided.

Claims

1. A granular composition comprising: a) a pesticide; b) 0.1 to 10 wt % of a nonionic amphiphilic polyalkoxylate; c) at least 20 wt % of a solid water-soluble anionic dispersant; d) at least 5 wt % of a sugar, which is a mono- or disaccharide, or a mixture thereof; and e) a polyvinylpyrrolidone.

2. The composition according to claim 1 comprising a solid anionic wetting agent.

3. The composition according to claim 2, wherein the wetting agent is selected from the group consisting of naphtha-lenesulfonate, alkylnaphthalenesulfonate, benzenesulfonate, alkylbenzenesulfonate, al-kanesulfonate, alpha-olefin sulfonate, sulfosuccinate, alkyl phosphate, alkyl sulfate, and mixtures thereof.

4. The composition according to claim 2 comprising 0.1 to 5 wt % of the wetting agent.

5. The composition according to claim 1, wherein the polyalkoxylate is a block polymer comprising a polyethoxylate block and a poly-C3-C5-alkoxylate block.

6. The composition according to claim 1, wherein the polyalkoxylate is a triblock polymer of A-B-A type comprising a polyethoxylate type A block and a poly-C3-C5-alkoxylate block type B block.

7. The composition according to claim 1, wherein the dispersant is a sulfonate.

8. The composition according to claim 1, wherein the dispersant comprises a sulfonated and/or sulfated aryl-formaldehyde condensation products, or a mixture thereof.

9. The composition according to claim 1, wherein the sugar is a water-soluble sugar.

10. The composition according to claim 1, wherein the polyvinylpyrrolidone is selected from homopolymers of vinylpyrrolidone, copolymers of vinylpyrrolidone, which comprise at least 80 mol % of vinylpyrrolidone (based on the total amount of monomers in the copolymer), or mixtures thereof.

11. The composition according to claim 1 comprising 0.1 to 10 wt % of the polyvinylpyrrolidone.

12. The composition according to claim 1 comprising: a) 10 to 60 wt % of the pesticide; b) 0.1 to 10 wt % of the polyalkoxylate; c) 20 to 70 wt % of the dispersant; d) 5 to 50 wt % of the sugar; and e) 0.1 to 10 wt % of the polyvinylpyrrolidone; wherein the amounts of a) to e) sum up to 80 to 100 wt % of the composition.

13. The composition according to claim 1, wherein the dispersant is soluble in water at least 50 g/l.

14. A method for the preparation of the granular composition as defined in claim 1, wherein the composition comprises: a) a pesticide; b) 0.1 to 10 wt % of a nonionic amphiphilic polyalkoxylate; c) at least 20 wt % of a solid water-soluble anionic dispersant; d) at least 5 wt % of a sugar, which is a mono- or disaccharide, or a mixture thereof; and e) a polyvinylpyrrolidone; comprising the steps of: (i) providing an aqueous suspension comprising the pesticide, the polyalkoxylate, the dispersant and the sugar; (ii) optionally drying the aqueous suspension; and (iii) granulating the aqueous suspension or the dried aqueous suspension, and wherein the polyvinylpyrrolidone is added in step (i) and/or step (iii).

15. The method according to claim 13, wherein the granulating is made by spray granulation of the aqueous suspension, and wherein the polyvinylpyrrolidone is added in step (i).

16. A method for controlling phytopathogenic fungi and/or undesired plant growth and/or un-desired attack by insects or mites and/or for regulating the growth of plants, where the composition as defined in claim 1 is allowed to act on the particular pests, their habitat or the plants to be protected from the particular pest, the soil and/or on undesired plants and/or the useful plants and/or their habitat.

Description

EXAMPLES

[0084] Polyalkoxylate: EO-PO-EO triblockpolymer, Molecular weight 10-15 kDa, containing 70-75 wt % EO; >10 wt % water-soluble, melting point about 55° C. [0085] Lactose: lactose monohydrate [0086] Stabilizer: aliphatic carboxylic acid, soluble in water (>5 wt %) [0087] Dispersant 1: phenolsulfonic acid-formaldehyde-polycondensate, sodium salt, powder, melting point above 150° C., solubility in water above 100 g/l at 20° C. [0088] Dispersant 2: naphthalenesulfonic acid-formaldehyde-polycondensate, sodium salt, powder, melting point above 150° C., solubility in water above 100 g/l at 20° C. [0089] Wetter: Dodecyl sulfate, sodium salt, powder, melting point above 200° C., solubility in water 150 g/l at 20° C. [0090] Carrier: Polyvinylpyrrolidone, homopolymer, powder, K value (1% in water) about 30, solubility in water above 20 wt %. [0091] Defoamer: Silicon based defoamer. [0092] Pesticide A: Mixture of 50/50 wt % chlorfenapyr and water-insoluble pesticide (solubility below 0.1 g/l), melting point above 60° C.

Example 1

[0093] Granules were prepared having the final composition as in Table 1 by a laboratory scale procedure and by an upscaled procedure as follows:

A) Laboratory Scale Procedure:

[0094] A liquid suspension concentrate premix was wet milled, then thin layer dried, manually crushed down, used a bed to fill fludized bed granulator chamber on which some water or solution of the Carrier was sprayed to form granules. Here the dried wet milled material was fully used as a solid bed.

B) Upscaled Procedure:

[0095] A liquid suspension concentrate premix was wet milled, then thin layer dried, manually crushed down, a small part of it (up to 15%) was used as nuclei to fill the spray drying granulator chamber on which the liquid wet milled premix (85%) was sprayed to form granules. Here the dried wet milled material was partially used as nuclei, but not as bed. For larger upscaling the wet milled premix can also be directly spray dried and form granules without the nuclei.

TABLE-US-00001 TABLE 1 Composition of granules (all data in wt %) Pesticide A 30 Polyalkoxylate 5 Stabilizer 1 Wetter 2 Dispersant 1 20 Dispersant 2 20 Defoamer 2 Carrier 2 Lactose 20

Example 2

[0096] The granules comprising the components of Table 2 were prepared as decribed in Example 1.

TABLE-US-00002 TABLE 2 Composition of granules (all data in wt %) A B C Alpha-cypermethrin 5 22 7 Dinotefuran 20 14 28 Polyalkoxylate 5 10 10 Stabilizer 1 1 1 Wetter 2 1 1 Dispersant 1 20 20 20 Dispersant 2 20 20 20 Defoamer 2 2 2 Carrier 2 1 1 Lactose 25 9 10

Example 3—Stability of Actives and of Granules

[0097] Samples of the granules prepared in Example 1 and 2 were stored for two weeks at 54° C. The content both actives was determined initially and at the end. No degradation of the actives was found. The granules remained free flowable.

Example 4—Particle Size

[0098] Samples of the granules prepared in Example 2A were stored for two weeks at 54° C. and then dispersed in water. The particle size distribution of the aqueous suspension was determined with a Malvern Mastersizer and summarized in Table 3. The line “Initial” lists values for granules without storage for two weeks at 54° C.

TABLE-US-00003 TABLE 3 D50 D90 Initial 2.1 μm 6.6 μm 2 weeks at 54° C. 1.9 μm 6.1 μm

Example 5—Sedimentation

[0099] Samples of the granules prepared in Example 2A and 2B were stored for two weeks at 54° C. The granules were suspended in standard hard water at a concentration of 1 wt %. The suspensions were allowed to stand for 30 or 120 min, respectively, at room temperature in a graduated tap cylinder and the volume of sediment was analyzed (Table 4).

TABLE-US-00004 TABLE 4 Sediment [ml] Sediment [ml] After 30 min After 120 min Ex. 2 A Initial 0.02 0.02 Ex. 2 A Stored 0.01 0.02 Ex. 2 B Initial <0.01 0.02 Ex. 2 B Stored 0.01 0.02

Example 6—Suspensibility

[0100] Samples of the granules prepared in Example 2 were stored for two weeks at 54° C. The granules were suspended in standard hard water at a concentration of 1 wt %. The suspensions were allowed to stand for two h at room temperature. Ninty percent of the suspension were withdrawn and the water removed by drying. The dried residue was weighted and the percentage of suspended material calculated (Table 5).

TABLE-US-00005 TABLE 5 Suspensibility [%] Initial 100 Ex. 2 A 99 Ex. 2 B 99 Ex. 2 C 99