SCIENX: A pioneer Chinese nanopesticide enterprise empowering upgrading of pesticide formulation and transformation of Chinese farming model

Editor’s Note: Nanotechnology is a cutting-edge technology in international competition, increasingly favored by the market because of its significant advantages in improving pesticide efficacy, utilization, safety and environment-friendliness. According to relevant data, the global nanopesticide market is expected to reach US$1.73 billion by 2031, with a compound annual growth rate of 12.5%.

So far, there has been significant progress in theoretical innovation and application research in the nanopesticide industry in China, which has jumped to the forefront of the world’s industry. The industry has gradually progressed from basic research to industrialization, which provides an excellent opportunity to transform and upgrade the Chinese pesticide industry. However, nanopesticides still face a lot of challenges like technology, process, mass production, cost control, evaluation, standard, application, and promotion in the process of commercialization, which require the joint efforts of government, research institutions, and enterprises to make significant technical breakthroughs, thus forming a sound industry layout to achieve the benefit of nanopesticides in reduction of the use of chemical pesticides, alleviation of the impact on the environment and increase of farmer’s business income.

Recently, AgroPages invited pioneers and key players in the field of nanopesticides, including SCIENX, PilarBio Group, Yinnong Technology, and Wynca Group, to make an in-depth analysis of problems and challenges faced by the Chinese nanopesticide industry chain, and to share their respective solutions and practical experiences, as well as their forecast for future. In this article, Liang Bing, Founder & President at SCIENX shared his insights.

Liang Bing, Founder & President at SCIENX

To make innovations in developing new nanopesticide products, what are the key highlights of innovation of SCIENX? Can you share the nanopesticide products launched by your company and their unique advantages? How is the progress of the promotion and application of these products?

Nanjing SCIENX Ecological Technology Co., Ltd (SCIENX) was established on the basis of three NSFC (National Natural Science Foundation of China) nanopesticide research programs, being committed to ″serving China’s food security″ and ″protecting the earth and serving people,″ with the achievement of a number of technical breakthroughs which contribute to the objective of development of green and safe pesticide, reduced use of pesticide and increased efficiency of pesticide application. Since the official launch of nano-pesticide emulsion and nano-pesticide premix in 2016, we have carried out trials, promotion, and application on more than 20 million mu (1.33 million Ha) of cropland in 18 provinces and cities across the country, having achieved fruitful results.

The unique advantages of SCIENX’s nanopesticide are reflected by:

- Green: Water is used as dispersion medium while biodegradable natural products and derivatives are used as adjuvants; low-toxic solvents are used and some products do not even require organic solvents, thus realizing fully environment-friendly application.

- Reduced use: The use of nanopesticides is generally reduced by 20-30% or above, with a better effect than that of conventional pesticide.

- Stability: The nanopesticide particle size is less than 50 nm, whether it is a formulation or a diluent formulation, which would appear clear and transparent.

- Safety: The ecological safety assessment conducted by the Nanjing Institute of Environmental Sciences of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment shows that SCIENX’s nanopesticide residues were only detected in the soil of paddy fields and rice plants but ″not detected″ in rice husk and brown rice. Rice is tested at the Rice and Product Quality Supervision, Inspection and Testing Center of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs for eight consecutive years. All test results show that pesticide residues were ″not detected.″ This means SCIENX’s nanopesticide is of low ecological risk (to fish pond) and low rice food risk, thus achieving environmental safety and food safety concurrently. It is worthy of note that not all nanopesticides have these properties concurrently.

- Easy to use: All nano pesticide products, whether single agent or customized premix for users, can be sprayed immediately after being diluted with water, thus eliminating the complicated process of several tank-mixed conventional pesticides. This solves the problem of unstable ultra-low-volume diluent for aerial application.

Highlights of innovation of SCIENX’s nanopesticide technology:

- A standard technology for different types of pesticides to have the same nanopesticide formulation. For example, it is the standard formulation technology for nanoemulsion, nanoparticle and polyvalent metal nanosuspension agent.

- Common formulation technology for nanopesticide premix with multi-component for one-time spraying and multi-target control.

- A breakthrough technology for a fat-soluble pesticide to achieve apparent water solubility without the use of organic solvents.

- A technology to enable the diluent of single nanoemulsion or multiple premix to remain clear and transparent.

What are the biggest challenges and solutions in the development, production, and application of nanopesticides? What are the technical difficulties that require urgent action?

Quite a few problems exist in conventional microemulsion formulations, that is each pesticide needs to be developed independently; the diluent is easily turbid and unstable; most products need to use low-carbon alcohols as co-emulsifier; and lots of products use highly toxic benzene solvents. How do we solve these problems in the development and application of nanopesticides? How do we derive a standard formulation technology of the same nanopesticide formulation? These are unarguably the most significant challenges to product development. The measures adopted by SCIENX is to stress the basic research of nanopesticides; determine the pesticide varieties targeted by nanopesticides; accurately classify nanopesticide formulations and crop protection technology, and explore the micro mechanism of formation of the same type of nanopesticide formulations. In addition, we employ technical talents from various disciplines, so that they can conduct interdisciplinary interaction. In the context of the current rapid development of science and technology, it is far from being enough to have only the knowledge of conventional pesticide formulation because it is difficult to get out of the restraint of existing knowledge, which may result in insufficient cognition and absence of driving force for innovation. Practices have proved that innovation is more likely generated by talents of interdisciplinary background. Some people have a deep understanding of the integrated development of nanotechnology with pesticide formulation, and can flexibly make use of the interdisciplinary knowledge.

What is the current cost of production and application of nanopesticides? Going ahead, what are the plans of SCIENX to reduce cost and promote the scale application of nanopesticides?

The development of science and technology is not meant to complicate product structure and production design. The same applies to research and development of nanopesticide, which is not meant to complicate simple issues, as the complication of such issues only increases the cost of production. Pesticides are a low-value consumable product; even if their performance is good, the high production costs and prices will discourage farmers. This is why it is difficult for many domestic research institutes to industrialize the lab research results. On the contrary, the high performance, simple design, and easy manufacture of nanopesticide is valuable and commendable. In nanopesticide research and development, formulation, novel formula, manufacturing technology, and raw materials are cleverly and perfectly combined, resulting in the preparation of nanopesticide premixes delivered to the crop field through the data platform and the ground service team. This could break through the ″last kilometer″ provision of technology, which is the greatest innovation of nanopesticide. 

The price of nanopesticide, accompanied by the premixing technical service of SCIENX, is not higher than that of conventional pesticide formulations. This is precisely the competitiveness of SCIENX. 

What do you think of the current regulatory policy for nanopesticide? What are your expectations and recommendations to government and industry players?

In 2021, The Institute of Plant Protection of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, the Institute for the Control of Agrochemicals of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs (ICAMA), Nanjing SCIENX Ecological Technology Co., Ltd jointly prepared the industry standard - Norm of Preparation of Product Quality Standard of Nanopesticide, which was approved by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs and officially came into effect on May 1, 2024. This is the world’s first nanopesticide standard approved by an official authority (government), which plays a significant role in promoting the development of nanopesticides.

The expectations and recommendations are as follows:

-The definition of nanopesticide should be aligned with the existing national standards in China.

Nanopesticide is developed based on nanomaterial and nanotechnology, and is a nanotechnology-based product. The Chinese national standard - Definition, Classification and Nomenclature of Nanoproducts (GB/T 39855-2021), has defined nanotechnology products as: ″Products composed of nanomaterials or with nanostructures, with the addition of nanomaterials, or products with significant changes in main properties after treatment with nanotechnology.″ The definition of nanomaterials in the national standard - Nanotechnology Terminology (GB/T30544.1-2014) says ″Nanomaterial is: Any materials with an external dimension, internal or surface structure in nanoscale.″ The definition of nanotechnology is: ″Product nanotechnology applies scientific knowledge to manipulate and control substances in nanoscale to take advantage of properties and phenomena which have significantly different properties from the properties of individual atoms, molecules or bulk materials but are related to the size and structure of individual atoms, molecules or bulk materials.″ All these definitions involve the term ″nanoscale″ which is defined in the national standard as ″Nanoscale: the size range between 1 nm - 100 nm.″

The definitions in the above national standards undoubtedly tell us: The size of nanopesticide should be nanoscale pesticide formulations, whether being formulations or diluents, and should be within the size range of 1 nm - 100 nm, rather than being randomly expanded to other sizes.

- Publicity and popularization of nanopesticide inspection standard

Nanopesticide has become a next-generation innovative technology for the pesticide industry development, which is the general trend of future industry development of all enterprises. However, nanopesticide should not be used as commercial speculation, hype, exaggeration, publicity only, or even fraud that jeopardizes the reputation of nanopesticide. This will hinder the development of the nanopesticide industry sector. To avoid this happening, on the one hand, government agencies and industry authorities ought to enhance the setting up of rules and regulations, speed up the process of approval of nanopesticide registration to expose speculation and false propaganda. On the other hand, education on knowledge of nanopesticides needs to be organized and popularized; the effort to popularize testing and judgment of nanopesticides needs to be enhanced. Besides instrumental testing, visual observation is an effective means. For example, if the nanopesticide formulations are diluted clear and transparent, it means that the particle size is within the range of 1 - 100 nm; in case of opalescence, it is already greater than 100 nm; in case being milky white or even opaque, it is almost in a sub-micron size or above micron.

What is the positioning and development plan of SCIENX in the field of nanopesticides? Can you predict the future of the nanopesticide industry sector?

The great significance of nanopesticide development lies in its contribution to the global sustainable development. The world’s population is projected to approach 10 billion by 2050. Agricultural production needs to be increased significantly to feed such a large population, while the environmental impact needs to be minimized, including the alleviation of pesticidal pollution and reduction of water use. The small size of nanopesticide particles and the better absorption by the target crop will be an excellent tool for solving the main problems of conventional pesticides (environmental pollution, accumulation of pesticides in living organisms and a significant increase in pest and disease resistance). Although it is not the only way to develop sustainable agriculture, one is sure that nanopesticides have less impact on the ecological environment and human health, which contribute to global sustainable development. This is why the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC), on its 100th anniversary, has placed ″nanopesticide″ on the top of the Top 10 Merging Technologies in Chemistry.

Now, SCIENX’s nanopesticide products are the first-generation products, whilst the second and third-generation products are being planned and designed. In addition to the performance of first-generation products, the product performance of the latter two generations is more concentrated on further improvement of the efficacy and enhancement of the controlled release.

SCIENX’s vision is to ″promote the evolution of pesticide formulation with pesticide nanotechnology; and promote reform of Chinese plantation model with customized intelligent agricultural service.″ Through the research, development, and promotion of nanopesticides, we could solve the problem of low utilization rate of conventional pesticides; through the whole process of service management based on information technology, we could overcome the difficulty in regulatory supervision of agricultural production. With new ideas and concepts, the latest agricultural practitioners of SCIENX are dedicated to supporting agricultural production, having brought about a revolutionary change to the agricultural production mode representing the direction of new productivity in agriculture. This is our positive response to the issue of ″who will go for farming and how to do farming″ in the new era.

This interview was published in AgroPages '2024 Formulation&Adjuvant Technology' magazine. Click the following picture to Read/Download. 

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