Recently, the R&D team of Shanghai Qixuan Chemical Technology Co., Ltd. has successfully developed an anionic-nonionic blended pesticide additive. Formulated with castor oil ethoxylate, butyl EO-PO block polyether and calcium dodecylbenzenesulfonate as core components, this product targets common industry pain points in pesticide formulation development, including poor emulsion stability, spray droplet runoff, foaming and weak hard-water resistance. It is designed for mainstream pesticide formulations such as emulsifiable concentrates, oil-in-water emulsions and microemulsions. Can this newly developed blended additive help formulators resolve formulation challenges and create new value amid the drive for pesticide reduction and efficiency improvement?
The pesticide industry is undergoing profound structural transformation. With the continuous implementation of national policies for pesticide reduction, efficiency enhancement and green formulation substitution, formulators are facing mounting R&D pressure. On the one hand, the market pushes forward high-load formulation development while restricting organic solvent consumption, imposing stricter requirements on emulsifying capacity and system compatibility of additives. On the other hand, field application conditions are highly variable, with wide divergence in water hardness across regions and uneven thickness of waxy cuticles on crop leaves. Many formulations pass laboratory bench tests yet suffer from droplet runoff, insufficient active ingredient deposition and unsatisfactory field efficacy when diluted and sprayed under field conditions.
Formulation researchers frequently encounter typical technical hurdles. Nonionic surfactants used alone deliver limited electrolyte resistance, and oil separation or stratification may occur under high-temperature or low-temperature storage. If formulators rely solely on anionic emulsifiers, wetting and penetration performance will be inadequate to improve pesticide deposition on target crops. Excessive foam generated during formulation stirring and filling also hampers production efficiency. Many manufacturers purchase multiple monomers for in-house blending, which leads to expanded raw material procurement lists, prolonged formulation debugging cycles and high risks of batch-to-batch performance fluctuation, indirectly raising R&D and quality control costs. The market urgently demands an all-in-one blended additive integrating emulsification, dispersion, wetting and penetration functions to streamline formulation development while maintaining long-term storage stability and reliable field efficacy.
Drawing on years of accumulated experience in surfactant formulation, the Qixuan R&D team adopted the anionic-nonionic synergistic emulsification system. Multiple rounds of HLB matching, thermal storage tests, freeze-thaw cycling tests, hard-water stability assessments and leaf wetting trials were conducted, and component ratios were iteratively optimized to finalize this blended additive. Rather than simple physical mixing of the three raw materials, the product relies on interfacial synergies between molecules to build an interfacial film with superior toughness and realize multi-functional performance integration.
The three core components serve distinct roles and generate synergistic benefits.
Castor oil ethoxylate acts as the primary nonionic emulsifying backbone of the system, a mature functional monomer widely adopted in pesticide auxiliaries. Its long fatty chain derived from castor oil offers excellent lipophilicity and good compatibility with various oil-based pesticide technical materials. Polyoxyethylene segments provide hydrophilic groups and undertake major emulsification and dispersion functions, effectively reducing oil-water interfacial tension and encapsulating oil-phase technical materials to form uniform emulsions. It also delivers outstanding wetting and spreading performance to facilitate liquid spreading on crop leaf surfaces. Compared with conventional fatty alcohol ethoxylates, castor oil ethoxylate features wider temperature tolerance and broader pH adaptability. It is compatible with multiple oil-based active ingredients including organophosphates and pyrethroids, laying a solid foundation for the whole additive system.
Butyl EO-PO block polyether functions as the performance booster. Its EO-PO block structure enables flexible HLB adjustment, and the butyl end group endows the product with unique penetrating capability. Within emulsion systems, it optimizes interfacial film structure and improves shear resistance, so emulsions resist demulsification during stirring, filling and on-site dilution. In field spraying scenarios, it lowers liquid surface tension, promotes penetration of active ingredients through plant cuticles, raises absorption efficiency and improves field control efficacy. Meanwhile, this block polyether has inherent low-foam properties, suppressing foam generation during production and spraying, eliminating the need for extra defoamers and simplifying formulation recipes.
Calcium dodecylbenzenesulfonate, commonly known as Agricultural Emulsifier 500#, is a classic anionic emulsifier and an indispensable component of this blended system. Its lipophilic alkylbenzene chain anchors to the oil phase, while calcium sulfonate hydrophilic groups form stable interfacial films in the aqueous phase. The combination of anionic and nonionic surfactants is a well-proven technical route in pesticide emulsification. After blending, the interfacial film achieves markedly higher toughness, and its resistance to hard water and electrolytes far exceeds single-component additives. When challenged by high-hardness field water and impurities from technical materials, the system resists demulsification and stratification, greatly improving thermal storage and low-temperature stability of formulations and ensuring consistent shelf-life performance.
The integration of multiple functions endows this blended additive with four key application advantages.
First, superior emulsion stability. Validated by thermal storage and freeze-thaw cycling tests, the emulsion exhibits uniform particle size and resists oil separation, stratification and flocculation. It is suitable for emulsifiable concentrates (EC), oil-in-water emulsions (EW), microemulsions (ME), and can also be incorporated into selected suspension concentrate (SC) formulations, covering mainstream formulation development requirements of formulators.
Second, excellent hard-water tolerance and broad-spectrum compatibility. It shows good adaptability to various oil-based pesticide active ingredients. Its emulsifying performance fluctuates slightly under water sources of different hardness, mitigating the risk of unstable efficacy caused by variable field water quality.
Third, wetting and penetration for efficacy enhancement. It reduces liquid surface tension, cuts down droplet runoff on waxy leaves such as cabbage and citrus, increases target deposition of active ingredients, strengthens penetration and supports customers to achieve pesticide reduction and efficacy improvement.
Fourth, ready-formulated supply to simplify customers’ formulation management. Formulation enterprises do not need to purchase multiple monomers for on-site blending, reducing raw material inventory categories, shortening formulation development cycles and avoiding batch variation risks arising from in-house blending. Qixuan Chemical can also provide formulation fine-tuning and supporting technical services according to customers’ active ingredient types and formulation specifications.
As a technology enterprise focusing on the R&D and production of surfactants and fine chemical auxiliaries, Shanghai Qixuan Chemical consistently puts technical services in advance. Following the launch of this new product, the marketing, technical and R&D teams will jointly drive market commercialization. Priority will be given to long-term cooperative customers for bench trials with supplied samples, application feedback will be continuously collected for product iteration. We will focus on customers troubled by formulation instability, foaming and droplet runoff. Technical teams will provide full support for formulation tests, physicochemical analysis and formulation recommendations to accumulate practical application cases.
Meanwhile, we objectively define the product’s scope of application. It is not a universal additive. Compatibility evaluation shall be carried out in advance for strongly alkaline systems and certain water-soluble active ingredient systems. All technical solutions shall be subject to bench test data, adhering to rigorous professional technical service standards.
The era where auxiliary suppliers compete merely on raw material prices has passed. Formulation capability plus customized technical solutions constitute the core competitiveness. This anionic-nonionic blended additive represents another achievement translating Qixuan’s surfactant R&D strength into commercial products.
Can this newly launched blended additive seize the green transformation opportunities of the pesticide formulation industry, effectively solve formulation pain points for formulators and create new revenue growth drivers for our company? The answer will be delivered by our team with solid test data, verified customer cases and professional technical services. When communicating with customers, marketing and sales colleagues may contact the R&D department promptly for sample applications and technical inquiries. We expect this new product to become a powerful tool for Qixuan Chemical to expand its pesticide auxiliary business. Together with formulation partners, we will promote the high-quality development of the pesticide formulation industry.
Post time: Oct-14-2026