Yinnong Technology: Dedicated to nanopesticide formulation, leading formulation industry upgrading and making continuous effort to strengthen international cooperation and research of applied technology

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, Dr. Liao Lian-an, Deputy General Manager and Head of R&D Center of Huizhou Yinnong Technology shared his insights.

Dr. Liao Lian-an, Deputy General Manager and Head of R&D Center of Huizhou Yinnong Technology 

To make innovation in developing new nanopesticide products, what are the key highlights of innovation of Yinnong Technology? 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?

Regarding innovation, the critical consideration is how to improve the bioavailability and safety of the product, i.e., by reducing the conventional pesticide particle to nano level (about 100 nanometers) to improve the solubility, bioavailability, and penetrability so that the product can become a real environment-friendly water-based nanopesticide; in addition, the controlled release of nanopesticide is also studied, to realize the controllable release of pesticides and prolong the lasting effect; the range of nanoparticles with the optimum performance is explored to ensure the safety and the long-lasting effect.

Nanopesticide formulations are more penetrative, absorptive and systemic to the target of control and the crops. The size of a nanopesticide is extremely small, allowing for easy ingress into the bodies of plants, fungi, and pests, thus improving the efficacy and the utilization rate to achieve a better control effect. Yinnong Technology is adept in constant formulation, upgrading and process optimization to create products with excellent performance. Over the years, the company has persisted in the preparation of real nanopesticide, being the first enterprise to marketize microemulsions. Yinnong Technology’s microemulsion products, such as the insecticide Nongzhouxing^® (emamectin benzoate 5.7%) and the fungicide Candu^® (difenoconazole.propiconazole 30%) are all of nanoparticle size where the particle size of Nongzhouxing^® is even below 10 nanometers. Yinnong Technology’s nanopesticide particle size is smaller; the effective utilization rate enables better efficacy; the surface tension of the liquid agent is reduced to have a better adsorbing effect and better coverage, which not only improves efficacy but also greatly improves the utilization rate. After its formula is upgraded, green and environment-friendly solvents are used, which can improve safety and stabilize efficacy. The low-residue nanopesticide formulations can reduce the impact of pesticides on non-target organisms and the ecological environment. Yinnong Technology’s competitive product such as Nongzhouxing^® has become a representational image product for use in fruit trees, economic crops, and field crops, attributable to its good effect and high safety, being highly regarded by growers, ranking at the forefront of the product of this kind.

What are Yinnong Technology’s biggest challenges and solutions in developing, producing, and applying of nanopesticides? What technical difficulties require urgent action?

The challenges mainly lie on the production and grinding efficiency of nanosuspensions. To maintain the particle size within D98 100nm, the conventional multi-stage series grinding, which is still being used in production, is inefficient and energy-consuming, but as there is no better solution at present, the only way to do is to prolong grinding time. In this regard, there is an urgent need for equipment manufacturers to produce nano-suspension sand mills with higher grinding efficiency or to innovate a new nanopesticide process. On the other side, targeting technical barriers, we need to continue our research and development as to how to truly improve bioavailability to deliver pesticide to the target in the right timing, quantitatively or dynamically, with controlled release to prolong the lasting effect and catalytic decomposition to improve the degradation rate, so that the degradation rate of the product can meet the pesticide residue requirement, hence to make the application more effective, more economical and safer.

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

The cost of production and application of nanopesticides is at the high side in the initial stage. In terms of production, our company implements a strict standard for procurement of raw materials, which prioritizes the best raw materials in China. Compared with conventional pesticides, the production process of nanopesticides is more complicated, as precise control of particle size of nanopesticides has a higher requirement on production equipment and the applied technology, which will increase the cost of production. However, as technology matures and production increases, the cost will gradually go down. In terms of application, nanopesticides can improve the efficacy and the utilization rate, and reduce the number of pesticide applications and the amount of use, thereby reducing the farmer’s cost of crop growth. In the future, we plan to reduce costs by expanding the production scale, purchasing raw materials in bulk, improving equipment utilizations and optimizing the production process.

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

There is only one definition of ‘nanopesticide’ in the only industry standard - Norm of Preparation of Product Quality Standard of Nanopesticide, as prepared by the Institute of Plant Protection of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, as approved by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs. There is no official regulatory document to give a standardized specification of nanopesticide. The domestic research of nanopesticide started in parallel with European and American countries, with the publication of the largest number of papers and the availability of the world’s leading process of industrialization. However, there are no explicit nanopesticide regulations yet as to whether nanopesticide products should be subject to registration, how the registration process should be, and how one should assess the risk. These are issues that need to be clarified. 

We are hoping that government can prepare to issue a special guideline for nanopesticide development to clarify the definition and the classification standards, formulate risk assessment guidance, and make clear the examination and approval process as applicable to nano characteristics to ensure the effectiveness and pertinency of regulations; meanwhile, a flexible regulatory revision mechanism needs to be established to make adjustment and adaptation of the regulatory requirement promptly according to technical advancement and new-emerging risks; government is hoped to work closely with enterprises to build a modern pesticide regulatory framework which is adapted to the development of nanotechnology to ensure the safe, effective and sustainable application of nanopesticide.

What is Yinnong Technology’s positioning and development plan in nanopesticide? Can you predict the future prospects of the nanopesticide industry sector?

Nanopesticide is a deeply integrated product of nanotechnology with conventional pesticides, which utilizes technical innovation to improve the effectiveness and safety of pesticides to promote the green and efficient transformation of the pesticide industry. In the process of research and development, on the one hand, Yinnong Technology lays stress on international cooperation, while on the other, the company stresses on the research of applied technology, having extended research of pest control to research of root systems to study the advanced technology of downward delivery of pesticide inside plants after integration of nanopesticide with a small molecule bioactivator. While nanopesticide is still in its infancy, it is regarded as a new development opportunity for Chinese pesticide industry, referred to as a ″crop protection upstart.″ In conjunction with relevant departments, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs formulated the 14th Five-Year Plan of Development of National Pesticide Industry, which encourages the innovative application of nanotechnology in pesticide formulation. Nanopesticides can improve efficacy, improve the utilization rate, and the effect of control, allowing for farmer’s reduced frequency of pesticide application. This not only falls in line with the national initiative of ″decreasing use and increasing efficiency″ but also helps farmers reduce the cost of production, which is a true contribution to the promising modern farming that improves product quality, increases farmer’s income, and facilitates sustainable agricultural development.

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

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