Development of water based pesticide system

Abstract

It is well known that emulsifiable concentrates (EC), besides good properties have problem with a high solvent content thus are not environmental friendly and can cause problems for users. The interest in developing oil-in-water emulsions (EW) instead emulsifiable concentrates is increasing due to toxicological problems with solvents. Oil-in-water emulsions can reduce phytotoxicity, ecotoxicity and dermal toxicity, have a higher flash point than EC and are safer in transport and storage; also EW are more compatible with water based SC formulations for blends of active ingredients. Plant protection often includes the use of some pyretroides as active ingredients, for example Cypermethrin, alone or combined with Chlorpyrifos. It is a very old product which is formulated as EC formulation. In this study oil-in-water emulsion (EW) was developed with the same active ingredients. The EW formulation was tested and the results show that it was stable and therefore could be used in plant protection.