The stabilization of micronized sulfur colloidal suspensions

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Sulvaris is a Canadian company dedicated to the development of fertilizer technologies specially formulated tosupply crops with the nutrients they need, when they need them, while minimizing agricultural waste.Micronized Sulfur Technology (MSTTM) is one of Sulvaris' most promising technology platforms, wheremicronized elemental sulfur particles slowly oxidize into plant available sulphate in the season of application.In the Liquid MSTTM product, sulphur particles are suspended in solution and applied using liquid fertilizerapplication equipment. One of the challenges faced with this technology is maintaining a stable suspensionduring storage. A significant amount of specialized expertise and instrumentation is required to understand theunique interactions between the particles and the suspension media required to prevent particle settling.The state-of-the-art materials engineering facility run by Dr. Steven Bryant provides the highest qualitypersonnel and the newest technologies for understanding how particles interact with their environments. Dr.Bryant has access to an impressive collection of instrumentation including an inductively coupled plasma massspectrometer, a zeta-potential and particle size analyzer, scanning and tunneling electron microscopes,viscometers, and a thermogravimetric analyzer. A strong collaboration between Sulvaris and Dr. Bryant willgive rise to a greater knowledge of the interactions that take place between the sulfur particles and differentcombinations of surfactants, rheology modifiers and salts. With this understanding, a formulation can bedeveloped whereby particle stability is enhanced such that farmers can readily apply the product to their cropswithout having to re-suspend the sulphur particles. Ultimately the development and commercialization ofLiquid MSTTM will be an economic benefit to Canada and the agricultural industry.