Review of electrostatic system parameters, charged droplets characteristics and substrate impact behavior from pesticides spraying

Abstract

Electrostatic spraying application is adopted in crop protection to prevent pest infestation, to improve product quality and to maximize yield. It involves a superposition of charges to pesticide spray droplets to attract substrate ions at obscured surfaces. The droplets wraparound effect reduces off-target deposition, enhances on-target spray and invariably improves spray efficiency. Electrostatic spraying system works effectively at optimum parameters in combination with charging voltages, application pressures, spraying height regimes, flow rate, travel speed, electrode material, and nozzle orientation. Many combinations of the system parameter settings have been systematically used by researchers for the electrostatic application, but there are unknown specific optimum parameters combinations for pesticide spraying. Since droplets chargeability influences the effectiveness of electrostatic spraying system, the parameters that produce ideal charge to mass ratio determine the functionality of the spraying deposition, retention and surface coverage. This article, therefore, analyses electrostatic system parameters that produce suitably charged droplets characteristics for effective impacting behavior of pesticides on substrates. Increasing applied voltages consequently maximizes charge-mass ratio to optimum and starts declining upon further increase in voltages beyond a critical point. This review further proposes the selection of an optimum electrostatic parameters combination that yields optimum droplets chargeability in pesticide application. Also, it is necessary to investigate the charge property of substrates prior to pesticide application in order to superpose the right opposite charge on spray droplets at rupture time during electrostatic spraying system.

Spray Deposition on Maize Using an Electrostatic Sprayer

“…The electrostatic sprayer can create a zone of electromagnetic interference; thus, when the droplets are sufficiently electrified, they tend to follow the trajectory of the electromagnetic field lines that are created due to the difference in the electric potential among the soil, vegetation, and electrified nozzle. This phenomenon reduces the losses of pesticides to the soil because the droplets are directed to plants that are the closest to the ground surface (Appah et al, 2019).…”

Electrostatic Spray Disinfection Using Nano-Engineered Solution on Frequently Touched Surfaces in Indoor and Outdoor Environments

“…This helps in substantiating that the anti-viral property of the solution sprayed on the surface is active for long periods of time and is effective. In the electrostatic spray deposition (ESD) process, the electrostatic image force of attraction and Coulombic force of repulsion play crucial roles in the deposition of the spray film and may control the maximum coverage over surfaces of different shapes and sizes [ 27 , 30 , 79 , 80 , 81 ]. After initial deposition on the grounded substrate, the electrostatically charged nano-particles repel new incoming particles that, in turn, tend to form a layer away from the existing charged particles, spreading around the surface.…”

“…The charge-to-mass ratio is considered a crucial parameter that is used to determine the effectiveness of electrostatic spray deposition. This can be represented as the ratio of the charge (Coulomb) to the flow rate (kg/s) [ 81 ]. As per Coulomb’s law, the electric potential at a point is directly proportional to the charge and inversely proportional to the square of distance between the charge and the origin [ 83 ].…”

Overview of the aeroponic agriculture – An emerging technology for global food security

“…Moreover, this study was first to develop the aeroponic system using electrostatic spray technology in the aeroponic system. Samuel et al [117] reported that electrostatic spray technology is the process of spraying an electrostatically charged mist into the surfaces and selected objects. The electrostatic spray uses a specialized solution combined with air and atomized by an electrode inside the sprayer.…”