Glyphosate Adjuvant Formulation with Glycerin

Abstract

The development of many crops with glyphosate tolerance has created a large demand for glyphosate herbicide formulations. Commercial aqueous solution glyphosate formulations usually contain a surfactant along with other formulation additives. The surfactant can function to help the spray solution wet the weed surface, and can also help potentiate the active ingredient. The other formulation ingredients usually include materials that function as humectants, antigelling agents, and antifreeze agents. Various traditional petrochemical derivatives have been used to achieve these effects. In this paper glycerin, a renewable natural material provides all of the nonsurfactant excipient properties. The advent of biodiesel production has created a surge in the production of glycerin. It has been found that this crude glycerin can be incorporated into commercial aqueous glyphosate formulations and can replace the traditional petrochemical derivative constituents. The glycerin functions as the humectant, antigelling agent, and antifreeze agent. This paper deals with the modifications and specifications necessary to achieve a suitable finished glyphosate product, as well as the performance results observed from field trials with the final formulation.