Tween™ 24 – Croda’s ‘carbon saving’ adjuvant

Nicola Daniels

Senior Marketing Manager，Global Crop Protection at Croda

The urgency with which we must tackle the climate emergency and the level of ambition and commitment required across society if we are to limit global temperature rises to 1.5°C is ever apparent. At Croda, Our Commitment is to be the most sustainable supplier of innovative ingredients, being Climate, Land and People Positive by 2030, delivering positive impact and measurable contribution to the United Nations sustainable development goals (UN SDGs).

To ensure we deliver on Our Commitment we are supporting our customers on their decarbonisation journeys intrinsically through the combined efforts of our sites progressing along decarbonisation roadmaps, our R&D teams innovating to develop low carbon alternative solutions and supply chain engagement. The extrinsic in-use benefits of our ingredients will also help growers reduce their own carbon footprints.  

One such example is the role of adjuvants in active ingredient delivery. The effective delivery of active ingredients is increasingly reliant on incorporating adjuvants into plant protection formulations. Adjuvants are important not only in targeting the delivery of active ingredients but also in reducing negative impact on nature and biodiversity.

Introduction to Tween 24

As a general-purpose adjuvant, Tween 24 is recommended for systemic active ingredients, providing superior penetration and humectancy properties resulting in enhance efficacy of active ingredients. Built on the well-established technology of Tween 20, Tween 24 offers all the same benefits but provides the option of enhanced performance (benefits are active ingredient dependant). It has an identical CAS number to Tween 20 so there are minimal regulatory hurdles if Tween 20 (or equivalent) is already being used. Tween 24 is part of a larger range of Tween adjuvants. For help understanding which Tween adjuvant is most suited to your application view our ‘Selecting a Tween adjuvant’ literature.

Table 1: Chemical characteristics of Tween 24

Tween 24 has several sustainable credentials including:

• Reduction in greenhouse gas emissions in end use application, validated by an external company Avieco
  

• ‘Clean label’ surfactant – safe and established ecological and toxicological profiles with minimum health and environmental impact
  

• Available as part of Croda’s ECO range of 100% biobased, 100% renewable surfactants
  

• OMRI Listed for organic use

Carbon saving fungicide case study

In partnership with a key customer, Land Use and Crop Science Innovation field trial studies were carried out in Brazil. Conducted over three growing seasons, the study showed how incorporating Tween 24 into a fungicide formulation against soybean rust can significantly improve yield and reduce land use, as well as identify associated water and carbon savings. As a result of the yield improvement, a greater mass of crop can be produced per hectare, lowering the land area required to grow one tonne of soybeans; this can be expressed as a land saving. This land would typically require energy inputs, all of which will have associated carbon emissions; in reducing the land required to grow the crop, significant carbon and water savings can be achieved, these have been externally validated by Avieco.

Extrinsic sustainable benefits in herbicides

Tween 24 was incorporated into a combination suspension concentrate (SC) formulation of flufenacet and terbuthylazine and applied to the weed species, Ipomoea (cv Heavenly Blue, a morning glory variety). The data presented in figure 1 looks at how the herbicide applications affect the ability of the weed to photosynthesise. A lower number in photosynthetic efficiency means the weed photosynthesises less and thus leads to destruction (or killing) of the weed.

Figure 1: Glass house trial on how Tween 24 can reduce photosynthetic efficiency of weed species, Ipomoea (cv Heavenly Blue, a morning glory variety), when incorporated within a herbicide application with ‘a’ and ‘b’ show statistical significance where (p=<.001)

Compared to the control (the herbicide containing no adjuvant), the herbicide containing Tween 24 reduced the photosynthetic efficiency of the weed, therefore suppressing the weed’s ability to photosynthesise. Tween 24 was 27 % more effective than the traditional adjuvant technology (Tween 80) and 33 % more effective than using no adjuvant (control).

So what’s the sustainability benefit here? Figure 1 demonstrates that Tween 24 can increase the efficacy of herbicide applications. There are two paths to be investigated:

1. The amount of active ingredient required can be reduced

• Carbon saved because of having to manufacture less active ingredient

• The active ingredient is often the most expensive part of the formulation so there is an economic benefit of replacing the active ingredient with Tween 24

2. The number of spray applications can be reduced

• Less tractor passes meaning less fuel used, less CO2 emitted and less soil compaction

• Less volume of herbicide required so less associated carbon in producing the product and less packaging
  

Conclusion

Collaborating through extensive field trials with a major customer in Brazil we have measured and demonstrated the land saving benefit and associated water and carbon savings of our Tween 24 adjuvant technology. If you would like to order a sample, please contact cropcare@croda.com Collaboration is at the heart of our growth across our Crop Care businesses and our customers welcome co-design on microplastic-free, low carbon or biodegradable solutions.

If you wish to collaborate with us on sustainable solutions for your product innovations, please get in touch via our Crop Care website or contact your local sales representative.

To know more advanced Formulation&Adjuvant Technology, please pay attention to upcoming '2022 Formulation & Adjuvant Technology' magazine to be published this May.

If you'd like to join this magazine to promote your products and solutions. Please contact Grace Yuan via: grace@agropages.com