Runhe Silicone Synergist - The Key to Pesticide Synergy

Established in 2000 and based in the coastal city of Ninghai in Ningbo City, Zhejiang Province, Ningbo Runhe High-tech Materials Co., Ltd., (Runhe) now has three production bases in Ningbo Runhe, Zhejiang Runhe Silicone and Jiujiang Runhe Synthetic Materials, as well as an import and export company and a research institute, the Hangzhou Runhe Materials Research Institute. 

Listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange (SZSE) ChiNext Market on November 27, 2017, Runhe is dedicated to the research, development, production, sales and application of textile chemicals and new silicone materials series products. 

In 2007, Runhe established a silicon product division. In 2010, a factory was built in Deqing Economic Development Zone, and Zhejiang Runhe Silicone New Materials Co., Ltd. was established and began operations in the same year, mainly producing and selling downstream silicone products, such as agricultural silicone enhancers, silicone defoamers, and silicone rubber and silicone resins, as well as silicone intermediates, such as heptamethyltrisiloxane, vinyl silicone oil and hydrogen-containing silicone oil. 

With the aim of extending Runhe’s business line to the raw materials of silicone and ensure reliable, steady supply of raw materials, Runhe invested CNY550 million to build Jiujiang Runhe Synthetic Materials Co., Ltd., in Jiangxi’s Yongxiu County in 2020. Designed to produce 35,000 tons of new silicone materials per year, Jiujiang Runhe Synthetic Materials officially started production in March 2022, adding to Runhe’s production capacity of heptamethyltrisiloxane, a key agricultural silicone intermediate, by 3,000 tons, hexamethyldisiloxane (MM) by 5,000 tons, and high-hydrogen silicone oil by 3000 tons annually.

With long-term confidence in the silicone industry, Runhe has constantly increased its production capacity and recruited talented persons to offer a range of star products, such as agricultural silicone enhancers, further improving its position in the market. Along the way, Runhe has made steady progress and remarkable achievements. In 2021, Runhe recorded sales revenues totaling of CNY1.1 billion, a year-on-year increase of 55%.

Runhe’s Deqing Factory, Jiujiang Factory and Runhe Materials Research Institute 

Competitive advantages in agricultural silicones

Runhe is dedicated to becoming a world-renowned supplier of fine chemicals, by focusing on the development and application of silicone-based products and the comprehensive processing of silicone raw materials. With agricultural silicone enhancers as its core products, Runhe has started to research agricultural silicone adjuvants and grown the business through the industrial chain since 2007. Through ongoing efforts to extend its business to raw materials in the upstream and exploring application technologies in the downstream, Runhe now has a self-contained portfolio of technologies covering the entire industrial chain for agricultural silicone adjuvants, giving it advantages in terms of business scale and low costs throughout the industrial chain.

Runhe has always been customer-centric, focusing on product innovation, stable product quality and differentiated/ individualized development. With greater investments in R&D and considering customers’ actual needs, Runhe has independently developed a series of agricultural silicone enhancers while adapting to customers’ demands.

Innovative agricultural silicone enhancers for varied application scenarios

The independently developed RH-208 is one of our key products. It features super wettability, excellent permeability, and good rain fastness, and is conducive to promoting the absorption of pesticides, as well as helping reduce pesticide use by over 30% and water consumption by over 50%. It is an excellent agricultural silicone enhancer. RH-208 is mainly used by tank-mixing with insecticides, herbicides and plant growth regulators.

In response to the fact that commercial crops, such as citrus, vegetables and flowers, are widely grown, and small insects (red mites, aphids, whiteflies, thrips and tea leafhoppers) that reproduced rapidly have developed resistance to insecticides, we developed RH-288, a highly safe silicone adjuvant with low permeability. Compared to RH-208, RH-288 has greater wettability and spreadability, as well ad less foam, lower permeability and a lower use rate. Therefore, RH-288 is safer for crops and can be used synergistically on economic crops, such as citrus, vegetables and flowers, for controlling insects that have developed resistance to insecticides.

As drones are widely used in recent years, more adjuvants are mixed with pesticides for aerial applications. Runhe has also developed adjuvants that are more suitable for aerial applications by having stronger anti-evaporation, anti-drifting, adhesion and wetting properties, to effectively improve the efficacy of pesticides through aerial application.

Considering the fact that formulations containing RH-208, RH-288 or other products are prone to easily hydrolyze in acidic and alkalescent aqueous systems and other pain points existing in the industry in China, Runhe has developed RH-SE249A, an agricultural silicone enhancer that is resistant to acid, alkali and hydrolysis. It can be used synergistically in aqueous formulations such as suspension concentrate, aqueous solution and micro-emulsion.

Through conducting constant innovative research on agricultural silicone enhancers, Runhe can now offer a range of differentiated products to suit the varied application requirements of customers, promoting ″reducing consumption and increasing efficacy″ of pesticides, and helping to realize the national goals covering ″fertilizer and pesticide reduction″ and ″zero increase in pesticides.″

New silicone adjuvant products and field test data 

RH-288 is an agricultural adjuvant with superior spreadability and wettability, as well as low permeability. Due to its excellent spreadability and wettability, a pesticide liquid mixed with it can quickly form a film on citrus leaves, covering citrus red mites and blocking off their breathing-valves to inhibit their respiration. The adjuvant can also control pests physically by dissolving the waxy coat of mites, so that they die sooner due to dehydration. It is highly effective for controlling resistant citrus red mites. The low permeability of RH-288 to crop stomas also makes it highly safe for citrus leaves and fruits. In general, RH-288 is an ideal, highly synergistic adjuvant for controlling citrus red mites. RH-288 diluted at a ratio of 1:2000 to 1:3000 can effectively control citrus red mites. When used alone after diluted at 1:3000, the product’s control effect on citrus red mites can reach more than 95% a day after application, proving its outstanding quick-acting results. A longer residual persistence can be achieved for RH-288 when it is applied in combination with acaricides with ovicidal activity, such as etoxazole, spirodiclofen and cyetpyrafen (Figure 1).

Figure 1: Diagram of RH-288’s efficacy in controlling citrus red mites

RH-SE249A is a new type of acid/alkali/hydrolysis-resistant silicone infiltrant. As well as its strong wettability and permeability, it also has superior resistance to acid and alkali (PH3-PH10) and hydrolysis. RH-SE249A can be used as either a tank-mixing adjuvant or added in aqueous formulations of insecticides and herbicides to substantially improve efficacy in killing insects and weeds (Figure 2).

Figure 2: Diagram of RH-SE249A’s acid and alkali resistance test

RH-SE249A was diluted at a ratio of 1:4000 and tank mixed with 10% glufosinate-P aqueous solution diluted at 1:150 for controlling resistant eleusine indica. The results showed that RH-SE249A can effectively accelerate the death of resistant eleusine indica. The weeds were totally eradicated within six days without any new growth (Figure 3). 

Figure 3: Diagram of RH-SE249A’s efficacy in controlling weeds

RH-SE249A also shows an outstanding control effect on citrus red mites. When it is used alone after diluted at a ratio of 1:3000, its control effect on citrus red mites can reach more than 95% one day after application (Figure 4).

Figure 4: Diagram of RH-SE249A’s efficacy in controlling citrus red mites

Future plan

Adhering to quality development, Runhe has been committed to providing environmental-friendly, highly efficient and energy-saving new silicone materials. Taking a ″technologically-innovative, green, open and sharing″ way for development, Runhe is sparing no effort to become a global-renowned supplier of fine chemicals.

Runhe continues to integrate the upstream and downstream resources of agricultural silicone adjuvants. In the future, we will keep conducting business and expanding our production capacity to the raw material sector, to ensure supply and help keep price stability in agricultural silicone adjuvants. By considering the downstream synergistic needs for soil-borne pest control, resistant insect control and fertilizers, as well as to utilize our competitive edges in scientific and technological innovation, we will also develop new and green silicone enhancer products that are highly efficient and highly safe on crops, to contribute to the global efforts to ″reduce the consumption and increase the efficacy″ of pesticides and fertilizers.

This article was initially published in AgroPages' '2022 Market Insight' magazine.