SINVOCHEM: Enhancing Agricultural Adjuvant Strength, Creating Global Strategic Structure

Editor’s note: In recent years, with ongoing improvements to pesticide formulations both at home and abroad, the development of green, environmentally friendly, and efficient formulations has become a key tool of formulators for increasing product competitiveness. As an important part of the agrochemical formulation product chain, adjuvants have created new opportunities for development.

As a leading agricultural adjuvant manufacturer, with the vision of ″becoming a respectable agricultural adjuvant enterprise″ and the mission of ″providing customers with green adjuvants and precise services for the better delivery of pesticide efficacy,″ while guided by market demand and driven by scientific and technological innovation, SINVOCHEM aims to make breakthroughs and continued advancements to elevate its comprehensive strength, to attain a leading stature in the international market within 10 years and become a global agricultural adjuvant enterprise worthy of respect.

Dr. James Qin, CTO & Founder of SINVOCHEM, was recently interviewed by AgroPages and shared SINVOCHEM’s latest business considerations, as well as its new R&D center, the progress of its projects, its overseas market development and planning, its product line and differentiated product advantages, its high-throughput screening, automation and artificial intelligence (AI) applications, and its future development prospects.

Dr. James Qin, CTO & Founder of SINVOCHEM

AgroPages: Why did SINVOCHEM choose agricultural adjuvants as its major product? Please talk about the development direction of your company.

SINVOCHEM’s dream is to become a respectable agricultural adjuvant enterprise,  which drives the value-added practices of everyone at the company. We usually divide the life cycle of pesticides into four processes, which are dispersed delivery, spatial delivery, interfacial delivery, and in vivo delivery, with the pesticide loss in each process being roughly 5%, 15%, 60%, and 99.9%, respectively. For this reason, we have established a digital detection system covering full life cycle of pesticides to monitor the delivery behavior of active ingredients. Accordingly, we can use functional adjuvants to regulate pesticide delivery efficiency, therefore, improving the utilization rate of pesticides.

At our Yangzhou R&D Center, we established a complete pesticide delivery research system, such as the R&D platform of pesticide formulations , which is engaged in researching the dispersing and emulsifying behavior of different formulations; Spatial delivery research platform represented by low-speed self-circulating wind tunnel engaged in researching the stability of multi-scenario aerial applications, pesticide-fertilizer tank mixing, droplet drifting or evaporation; Interfactial delivery platform to research droplet-target interfacial interactions, such as bouncing, spreading, moisturizing, penetrating and rain fastness; Translocation delivery platform to research pesticide indoor safety and activity. 

Our Nanjing R&D Center established a research platform for adjuvant design, development and industrialization that consider interactions between an adjuvant and pesticide particle surface. Studying pesticide delivery behavior, designing new structural adjuvants, and improving pesticide delivery efficiency to better achieve pesticide efficacy are the effective approaches of SINVOCHEM for realizing its dream.

Conventional multinational adjuvant enterprises generally deal with multiple application fields, such as agrochemicals, daily chemicals, coatings, pigments, textiles, and water treatment. Amid fierce market competition, SINVOCHEM has positioned itself as an agrochemical-centric company that works at all levels to develop adjuvants towards one common goal, which is the better achievement of pesticide efficacy. At SINVOCHEM, the goal we are persistently pursuing is to add value to communities and individuals and become a respectable pesticide adjuvant enterprise.

AgroPages: Can you share the latest project developments of SINVOCHEM’s R&D center and its capacity expansion and supply system? What is the strategic significance of these projects to SINVOCHEM’s future business development?

In August 2022, Nanjing R&D center puts into operation. The R&D center undertakes the structural design, synthesis, and industrialization of novel adjuvants, having formed a series of products covering polycarboxylates, naphthalenesulfonic acid formaldehyde condensate, lignosulfonates, functional polyether, hyperbranched polyesters and key catalysts. In June 2023, the expanded Yangzhou R&D Center became operational and is capable of pesticide whole life cycle tracking and research, particularly in terms of  microchannel technology for microencapsule suspension formulation, low-speed wind tunnel technology for droplet drifting and evaporation detection, DF( Dry Flowable) formulation technology by wet sand milling, high-concentration OD(oil suspension dispersion) formulating technology, and nano size pesticide formulation technology, all of which are leaders in the industry.

Figure 3：Nanjing R&D center	Figure 4：Yangzhou R&D center

In the past year, the company’s functional polyether project and fully automated three-dimensional warehouse with nearly 10,000 spaces for goods became operational, and phase III of its proposed full-process automated functional polymer project has been endorsed by government and scheduled for construction within this year. The expansion of production and supply capacity serves as a strong safeguard for the company’s adequate supply for the global market.

AgroPages: Can you share SINVOCHEM’s internationalization approach and overseas market expansion plan? What is the company’s development plan in terms of technical reserve, R&D talents and innovation management? What is your plan for overseas market expansion in the years ahead?

SINVOCHEM’s vision is to become a respectable agricultural adjuvant enterprise. We have made breakthroughs and  became a leading adjuvant enterprise in the domestic market by technical innovation. We are planning to work for 10 more years to win a place in the international market and become a global agricultural adjuvant enterprise worthy of respect. To this end, we have established joint formulation laboratories in key markets to improve the efficiency of our service interactions with end customers. Currently, we have established business relations with more than 20 countries and built several overseas joint laboratories.

Figure 5：Customer Visit

SINVOCHEM adheres to its application scenario-oriented technical innovation concept, taking organizational capacity building as a core competence while focusing on the establishment of key research and innovation platforms to achieve greater potential. At the same time, the company attaches great importance to market development. In the first quarter of 2024, the company’s domestic and overseas sales increased by 41%. As the overseas market is an important part of the company’s market portfolio, we will continue to apply for EPA and REACH certification of our main products and will continue to establish joint overseas laboratories to serve more customers, to provide SINVOCHEM adjuvants that enable the ″better delivery of pesticide efficacy.″

AgroPages: Can you explain the product matrix of SINVOCHEM, with a focus on your key products and distinguished product advantages? Concerning the development of complex formulations for multiple scenario applications and products in emerging fields, such as biological agents, can you share some specific development cases?

Conventional pesticide adjuvants include polycarboxylate, naphthalene sulfonate, lignosulfonate, polyether polyol, functional polyether, and polyester.

Polycarboxylate is a comb-like, block or dendritic polymeric dispersant made up of different vinyl monomers, with a molecular weight typically being thousands up to 30,000. Our catalytic technology achieves uniformity between design and smart manufacture. SINVOCHEM uses its catalytic technology to synthesize a series of polycarboxylate dispersants, which include the high-concentration suspension concentrate (SC) viscosity-reducing dispersant, SP-27001; the suspension concentrate (SC) particle size growth inhibitor, SP-SC3275; the common DF dispersant, SP-DF2238; the DF dispersant for low melting point active ingredients, SP-DF22966; the anti-cream  oil suspension(OD) dispersant, SP-OF3498D; the high-concentration oil suspension(OD) dispersant, SP-OF3497; the WG production efficiency-increasing dispersant, SP-2830; the spontaneous dispersion and suspension stability-increasing dispersant, SP-2888; and the microcapsule suspension(CS) stability-increasing dispersant, SP-3936.

As conventional naphthalene sulfonate has a low molecular weight, single structure and poor dispersion efficiency, SINVOCHEM introduced alkyl, ether chain link and phenol to increase molecular weight. This product range includes NSF series, such as the dispersant SP-2837Y to smoonth the granulation of emamectin benzoate and thiamethoxam WG; dispersant SP-2818L with excellent heat tolerance ability; dispersant SP-SC3219 particle size growth inhibitor for SC; dispersant SP-DF2271, for metal-containing pesticides such as Mancozeb DF.

Various varieties of functional polyether, polyether polyols and polyester varieties have been launched in the market due to different application scenarios, such as the high salinity penetration enhancer, SP-AS3108; the aerial application-targeted high-concentration diluting emulsifier, SP-EC3596; the pinoxaden EC stabilizer SP-EC35105; and the low foam wetting agent, SP-2828W for biological pesticide.

Research on the structure-function relationship between adjuvants and particles and the study of the life cycle delivery of pesticides have greatly facilitated our product serialization, to respond and adapt to different scenarios.

AgroPages: How can nanopesticide be developed and industrialized? What products and solutions can SINVOCHEM provide? How would you comment on the development prospect of nanopesticide?

To be precise, nanopesticide is a pesticide formulation dispersed in a carrier or water in nano size. Compared to conventional formulations, it exists in a nano form before  application. In recent years, nanopesticides have attracted the attention of scientific researchers and entrepreneurs, who generally believe their high dispersion efficiency can promote the deposition of pesticide liquid in foliage and improve the delivery of pesticide liquid in plants. Nanoemulsion and nanosuspension are the most popular nano formulations. Compared to conventional EC formulation, nanoemulsion uses water as continuous phase instead of organic solvents while has same processing procedure. Nanosuspension has higher deposition than conventional SC. SINVOCHEM has been committed to the research and industrialization of nanopesticide adjuvants, such as Emulsifier SP-ZR5201 for emamectin benzoate nanoemulsion and nanosuspension dispersants, SP-NS5348.

Figure 6：Nanopesticide lab

We have conducted many biological activity and safety tests. We found that not all pesticides are fit for nano applications. Considering the uncertain environmental safety and cost of nanopesticides load nanocarriers or cationic organic matters. We believe it still needs a long period to have nanopesticide industriallized.

AgroPages: High-throughput screening, automation and artificial intelligence are greatly accelerating the efficiency of product development. What is SINVOCHEM’s development plan in this regard?

As market competition is getting more and more intense while the cost of labor is getting higher and higher, improving research efficiency is a major issue for enterprises. SINVOCHEM has preliminarily  realized milling and dispersing experiments by high-throughput technology, increasing work efficiency by more than five times; achieved continuous particle size analysis, cleaning and switchover by unmanned automatic particle size analysis platform. Molecular design and simulation system also reduces the number of sample tests and shortens the period of industrialization; Microfluidic continuous microcapsule suspension research platform enables the accurate control of microcapsule material and particle size; and the storage efficiency of its intelligent three-dimensional warehouse with nearly 10,000 standard cargo spaces has been increased five times.

Figure 7：CS microchannel reactor

SINVOCHEM is prepared to continue investing in the synthesis of adjuvants, researching the production of formulations, and the research, production, and intelligent management of the whole life cycle delivery of pesticides, to achieve higher work efficiency.

AgroPages: Could you share your future development plan?

With the long-term goal of becoming a respectable agricultural adjuvant enterprise, SINVOCHEM is committed to researching the entire life cycle delivery of pesticides and controlling pesticide delivery efficiency through designing new structured adjuvants, to better achieve pesticide efficacy. To this end, we are about to complete the construction of our phase III project to realize the safe and consistent production of a full range of major pesticide adjuvants. We are also increasing R&D spending on our research center and will expand industry-university-research collaboration, and we will conduct in-depth an study of pesticide delivery rules and create adjuvants for multiple scenario applications, to better deliver the pesticide efficacy. In the meantime, we will continue to build joint overseas laboratories and even R&D centers or factories overseas. We are ready to complete the EPA and REACH certification of our main products, to make SINVOCHEM a respectable global agricultural adjuvant enterprise.

If you are interested in cooperation with SINVOCHEM, please contact:

Alex. Lee |SINVOCHEM

Email: alex@sinvochem.com

Tel: 0086-15094373731

This interview will be published in AgroPages' upcoming '2024 Formulation&Adjuvant Technology' magazine.

If you'd  like to participate in it to show your insights and solutions or for any promotion demands, please contact Grace Yuan: grace@agropages.com