STTR Phase I: Nanocellulose-based Adjuvant for Reducing Herbicide Drift

这项小企业技术转让研究（STTR）第一阶段项目的更广泛影响在于解决除草剂漂移的紧迫问题。多年来，种植有机、非转基因（non-GM）和特种作物的农民由于挥发性除草剂（如麦草畏）的漂移而遭受作物损害和经济损失。美国环保署估计，每年有多达7000万磅的杀虫剂，包括除草剂，由于漂流而流失到环境中。仅在2017年，就有360万英亩的大豆因麦草畏从施用地点漂流而被毁。这个项目用一种减少除草剂挥发性和漂移的新技术解决了这个问题。这项技术将帮助种植转基因作物的农民，他们因为喷洒漂浮麦草畏而面临诉讼，也将帮助那些种植非转基因作物的农民，他们不希望漂浮的麦草畏影响他们的农产品。目前面临环境保护署限制、产品禁令和数十亿美元诉讼的农用化学品公司可以利用这项技术提高其产品的应用效率。这项技术具有显著的环境效益。此外，除了农业用途之外，生物基配方是一种平台技术，可用于开发从食品到药品到化妆品的其他应用。本STTR一期项目提出的创新是一种生物基乳液佐剂，来源于可再生资源，具有漂移控制剂、缓冲剂和表面活性剂的综合功能，以减少除草剂的挥发性和脱靶运动，提高其功效。拟议的佐剂提供封装，相对于实践状态的环境和经济效益。该项目有以下目标来评估和论证创新的技术可行性：1)开发并优化该制剂的组成，2)确定其在除草剂喷雾混合物中使用的重要特性，如表面张力、热稳定性、流体流动、水调节和消泡行为，3)进行humidome测试和现场试验，以麦草畏作为模型除草剂，验证该制剂在空气中悬浮的细喷雾液滴和除草剂对pigweed （Palmer amaranth）的活性方面的有效性。4)确定制剂在土壤和水环境中的生物降解性及其水生毒性。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact of this Small Business Technology Transfer Research (STTR) Phase I project is in addressing the pressing problem of herbicide drift. For years, farmers growing organic, non-genetically modified (non-GM) and specialty crops have incurred crop damage and financial losses due to drift of volatile herbicides, such as dicamba. The EPA estimates that up to 70 million pounds of pesticides, including herbicides, are lost to the environment due to drift each year. In 2017 alone, 3.6 million acres of soybeans were destroyed due to dicamba drifting away from its site of application. This project addresses the problem with a novel technology that reduces herbicide volatility and drift. This technology will help farmers growing GM-crops who face litigation because they spray drifting dicamba, and those who grow non-GM-crops and do not want drifted dicamba to impact their produce. Agrochemical companies currently facing EPA restrictions, product bans, and billions of dollars in lawsuits, can use this technology to improve the application efficiency of their products. This technology offers significant environmental benefits. Furthermore, beyond its agricultural use, the bio-based formulation is a platform technology that may be used to develop other applications from food to pharmaceuticals to cosmetics. The innovation proposed in this STTR Phase I project is a bio-based emulsion adjuvant, derived from renewable resources, with the combined functionality of a drift control agent, buffering agent, and surfactant, to reduce the volatility and off-target movement of herbicides, and improve their efficacy. The proposed adjuvant offers encapsulating, environmental and financial benefits relative to the state of practice. The project has the following objectives to evaluate and demonstrate the technical feasibility of the innovation: 1) develop and optimize the composition of the formulation, 2) characterize properties important for its use in herbicide spray mixtures, such as surface tension, thermal stability, fluid flow, water conditioning and defoaming behavior, 3) conduct humidome tests and field trials to validate the effectiveness of the formulation with respect to fine spray droplets suspended in the air and herbicide activity against pigweed (Palmer amaranth), using dicamba as the model herbicide, and 4) determine the biodegradability profile of the formulation in soil and water environments and its aquatic toxicity.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.