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

这个小企业技术转让研究（STTR）第一阶段项目的更广泛的影响是解决除草剂漂移的紧迫问题。多年来，种植有机、非转基因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，由于漂移而流失到环境中。仅在2017年，就有360万英亩的大豆因麦草畏漂离其应用地点而被毁。该项目通过一种新技术解决了这一问题，该技术可以减少除草剂的挥发性和漂移。这项技术将帮助种植转基因作物的农民，他们因喷洒漂流的麦草畏而面临诉讼，以及那些种植非转基因作物的农民，他们不希望漂流的麦草畏影响他们的农产品。目前面临EPA限制、产品禁令和数十亿美元诉讼的农化公司，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，除了农业用途外，生物基制剂是一种平台技术，可用于开发从食品到药品到化妆品的其他应用。STTR第一阶段项目中提出的创新是一种生物基乳液助剂，来自可再生资源，具有漂移控制剂，缓冲剂和表面活性剂的组合功能，以减少除草剂的挥发性和脱靶运动，并提高其功效。所提出的佐剂提供相对于实践状态的封装、环境和经济效益。 该项目有以下目标，以评估和证明创新的技术可行性：1）开发和优化制剂的组成，2）表征其在除草剂喷雾混合物中使用的重要性质，例如表面张力、热稳定性、流体流动、水调节和抗湿性，3）进行湿度测试和田间试验，以验证制剂在悬浮于空气中的细喷雾液滴和对猪草的除草剂活性方面的有效性（Palmer阿马兰斯），使用麦草畏作为模型除草剂，和4）该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得通过评估使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的支持。影响审查标准。

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.