Crop protection concentrate

Abstract: Paraffinic oils which comprise in the range of from 45 to 100 m/m of one or more paraffinic hydrocarbon(s) and have an average molecular weight in the range of from 100-200 are useful as antifoam agents, especially in a surfactant-containing concentrate or an adjuvant concentrate for crop protection use.

Description: The present invention relates to a crop protection concentrate and its use in a method for preparing a crop protection formulation. The use of surfactants has become extensive in certain industries and enables otherwise immiscible substances to be mixed successfully. When using surfactants in a water-based system, however, foaming normally occurs. In processes where surfactants are also being used for their cleaning properties, e.g. in washing liquids, foaming is acceptable, but in a number of other situations excess foaming is not desired and may interfere with processing or the end-properties of the product. The processes of papermaking, fermentation, paints etc. all utilise antifoaming agents to reduce foam problems. Initially kerosine and fuel oils were used to reduce foaming but found to be ineffective and unsatisfactory. More recently a number of different antifoaming agents have been developed for the major processing industries. Generally antifoaming agents have antifoam components, such as silicone-based products, e.g. silicone-coated silica particles, hydrocarbon waxes, or fatty amides or esters, often with a carrier such as a hydrocarbon oil, and if necessary an emulsifier component. In the crop protection industry treatment formulations are often sold in concentrated forms for dilution with water by the farmer or user at the site of use. To assist dissolution of the formulation, surfactants are often incorporated into the treatment concentrates and foaming can occur on mixing with water in a spray tank. A small amount of foaming is acceptable, but largescale foaming can give spraying problems. To prevent this the farmer is known to add diesel oil to destabilise the foam. This practice is undesirable as it leads to crop, and other areas, being sprayed with unrefined fuel oils which is unacceptable from the environmental viewpoint. Hydrocarbon (e.g. paraffin) oils are also known as anti-foaming additives for formulations of crop protection agents, e.g. from EP-A-0498231 and (East) German Patentschrift 215227. The Applicants have now found that certain specific paraffinic oils can significantly destabilise foam formed in crop protection formulations on dilution in water. Furthermore the time taken to break the foam with these paraffinic oils is significantly shorter than that found for conventional antifoam agents and for diesel oil. Certain paraffinic oils of the lubricant oil type, such as the oil available from SHELL under the trade name HVI 60, are known to be useful in crop protection formulations because of their adjuvant effect by which the activity of an active ingredient is enhanced, permitting the use of smaller quantities of the active ingredient to be used. EP-A-356812 discloses an adjuvant composition which comprises surfactant components and optionally a hydrocarbon component. The latter is preferably an aromatic solvent but may be a paraffinic oil or solvent, suitably a solvent-refined petroleum oil fraction composed of paraffinic and naphthenic hydrocarbons and generally having a flash point in excess of 200 deg C. The hydrocarbon component is believed to exert a minor biochemical effect in use but no antifoaming action is noted, indeed low-foaming surfactants are specifically required for the adjuvant composition. It has been found by the Applicants that the paraffinic oil adjuvent HVI 60, which has a flash point in excess of 200 deg. C, and an aromatic solvent, SHELLSOL E have less antifoam action than diesel oil, even at high concentration. Paraffinic hydrocarbon oils of the type found herein to be useful as antifoam agents have been used in domestic situations because of their low odour and solvent properties, for example SHELLSOL D70 is used as the inert carrier solvent for the insecticide spray SHELLTOX, and have been found to be acceptable by the regulatory authorities. Recent crop protection formulations have been proposed which utilise surfactants as adjuvants, often in high quantities, see for example EP-A-356812 above. The paraffinic oils specified in the present invention are particularly suited for use with such crop protection formulations and especially formulations including alcohol alkoxylate surfactants which can give rise to significant foaming problems on dilution with water. The paraffinic oils specified in the present invention may of course be utilised for any antifoaming situation where the paraffinic component fulfills any regulatory requirements and is compatible with the process followed and product prepared. It is to be understood that the use of the term "antifoaming agent" herein includes an agent which prevents foaming from occurring or controls or removes a foam after formation. Accordingly, the present invention provides a crop protection concentrate comprising a crop protection agent, an alcohol ethoxylate and a paraffinic oil wherein the paraffinic oil comprises in the range of from 45 to 100%, preferably 50 to 100%, mass by mass of one or more paraffinic hydrocarbon(s) and has an average molecular weight in the range of from 100 to 200, preferably 140 to 170, and the weight ratio of alcohol ethoxylate to paraffinic oil in the concentrate is in the range of from 11:1 to 1:1. The term "paraffinic oil" is used herein to denote a hydrocarbon which is a paraffin or a hydrocarbon mixture having a paraffinic component, which is usually derived from petroleum sources. The hydrocarbon(s) may be derived by catalytic hydrogenation of a petroleum fraction, or be obtained by distillation, for example of hydrocarbon reaction products. Generally such paraffinic hydrocarbons are a mix of paraffin components with a minor amount (less than 0.1% m/m, preferably less than 0.03 % m/m) of aromatics; naphthenic components may also be present. Suitably, the flash point of the required hydrocarbon or hydrocarbon mix is less than 100 deg C, and preferably lies in the range of from 35 to 75 deg C. The paraffinic hydrocarbon oil specified in the present invention may therefore be used as a pure or substantially pure paraffin, e.g. decane, a mixture of paraffinic isomers, a mixture of paraffins or as a mixture of paraffins with naphthenic or aromatic hydrocarbons. The paraffinic component may be present as paraffin(s) or as isoparaffin(s) and generally herein the term paraffin should be understood to include isoparaffin. Suitably, the paraffinic hydrocarbon oil contains one or more paraffins having in the range of from 9 to 14 carbon atoms, especially from 10 to 14 carbon atoms. Especially suitable paraffinic hydrocarbon oils have a density at 15 deg C (ASTM D 1298) in the range of from 0.70 to 0.85 kg/l, especially in the range of from 0.75 to 0.80 kg/l. Useful paraffinic oils are the range of paraffinic and isoparaffinic hydrocarbons available in the SHELLSOL range of hydrocarbon solvents available from Shell, or the equivalent products, for example the ISOPAR product range available from Exxon. Preferred are the SHELLSOL D and SHELLSOL T hydrocarbon grades or equivalents. The preferred SHELLSOL D grades may be defined as a complex combination of hydrocarbons obtained by treating a petroleum fraction with hydrogen in the presence of a catalyst, consisting of hydrocarbons predominantly in the range C 9 to C 14 and boiling in the range of from approximately 155 deg C to 250 deg C. The aromatic content is below 0.03 % m/m and the flash point is not less than 38 deg C. Preferred forms have a characteristically low, sweet odour. The preferred SHELLSOL T grades may be defined as a complex combination of hydrocarbons produced by distillation of the reaction products of isobutane with monoolefinic hydrocarbons, consisting of predominantly branched chain saturated hydrocarbons having carbon numbers in the range of from C 10 to C 12 and boiling in the range of approximately 167 deg C to 218 deg C. Preferred forms have a characteristically low odour. The specified paraffinic hydrocarbons are of particular use in conjunction with crop protection formulations when a crop protection concentrate is diluted in water or an aqueous medium. The crop protection concentrate may be in the form of a soluble liquid, emulsifiable concentrate, emulsion concentrate or a suspension concentrate. It is a significant departure from conventional practice to include an antifoam component into such crop protection formulations. The alcohol ethoxylates are suitably derived from a C 9-18 , preferably a C 9-15 , aliphatic alcohol. The ethoxylate chain suitably has at least 5 ethoxy moieties, preferably from 5 to 9 ethoxy moieties. The DOBANOL range of alcohol ethoxylates available from Shell and the GENAPOL range of alcohol ethoxylates available from Hoechst may be particularly mentioned. Usefully, the amount of ethoxylate present in a crop protection concentrate of the present invention lies in the range of from 500 to 600 g/l, especially 400g/l, and the paraffinic oil is present in an amount in the range of from 50 to 300 g/l, especially 200g/l. The present invention further provides a method for preparing a crop protection formulation comprising adding a crop protection concentrate as defined above to water. The following Examples illustrate the invention. The active ingredient used for all of the Examples was the compound 1-(4-chlorobenzyl)-3,3-dimethyl-2-hydroxy-2-(1,2,4-triazol-1-yl)-methylcyclopentane, commonly known as metconazole. Example 1 is a comparison example; Examples 2 and 3 show the use of specified paraffinic oils as antifoaming agents. In the Examples "% m/m" indicates a mass by mass percentage basis. EXAMPLE 1 The antifoam activity of a number of conventional antifoam agents and hydrocarbon oils was assessed using the following soluble liquid formulation: Active ingredient 60g. DOBANOL 91-6 600g. amyl alcohol to 1 L. The formulation was prepared conventionally by mixing the active ingredient and the DOBANOL and making the formulation up to one litre with the amyl alcohol. DOBANOL 91-6 is an alcohol ethoxylate from SHELL which has C 9-11 primary alcohol moieties with an average of 6 ethoxy units per molecule. The assessment was carried out by adding the test substance in the specified concentration to the above test formulation at the time of preparation, diluting the resulting soluble liquid formulation in water, and stirring for one minute with a magnetic stirrer at the highest available speed. The time taken for the foam to disperse completely after the stirring had been stopped, was then recorded. The results are given in Table I below. ANTIFOAM AGENT CONCENTRATION (g/l) TIME TO ACHIEVE FOAM BREAK - - 21 min 10 sec ANTIFOAM T 5 24 min 14 sec ANTIFOAM T 10 23 min 22 sec ANTIFOAM T 20 22 min 53 sec ANTIFOAM T 30 17 min 18 sec ANTIFOAM DN 5 > 21 min ANTIFOAM DNE 5 > 21 min ANTIFOAM FN 1 > 21 min ANTIFOAM TIP 1 > 21 min ANTIFOAM KN 1 > 21 min BEVALOID 642 1 > 21 min BAYSILONE 0.5 12 min 00 sec Diesel oil 5 13 min 21 sec SHELLSOL E 200 > 21 min HVI 60 200 > 21 min ANTIFOAM T, ANTIFOAM DN, ANTIFOAM DNE and BAYSILONE are all antifoam agents available from Bayer AG. ANTIFOAM FN, ANTIFOAM TIP and ANTIFOAM KN are all antifoam agents available from Hoechst. BEVALOID 642 is an antifoam agent available from Rhone-Poulenc. SHELLSOL E is an aromatic hydrocarbon available from SHELL which typically contains 83 (ASTMD 1319 %v/v) aromatics, 12 %m/m paraffins and 4 %m/m naphthenics, and has a density at 15 deg C of 0.856 kg/l (ASTM D 1298), an average molecular weight of 125, and a flash point (ABEL) of 42 deg C. It distills between 164 deg C and 188 deg C. HVI 60 is a paraffinic oil adjuvant available from SHELL, which typically contains in the range of from 10 to 30 % aromatics, and has a flash point of 204 deg C by PMcc, and a specific gravity of 0.872. The concentration of each antifoam agent used was determined in accordance with the manufacturer's recommendations. For ANTIFOAM T, no more than 30g/l could be dissolved in the test formulation; similarly for others of the antifoam agents listed, the concentration quoted is the maximum amount that could be incorporated into the test formulation. In addition to the above a number of other oils were tested for antifoam properties with the test formulation but were found to have no ability to break the foam formed on dilution with water: SHELL GRAVEX oil (various grades), stone-pine oil, rape oil, balsa oil and solvent naphtha. Also a number alcohols were tested and showed no antifoam action: methanol, ethanol, decanol, cyclohexanol, heptanol, octanol and benzylalcohol, amongst others. It is considered that for a desirable antifoam agent the time for the foam to break completely should be a maximum of 5 minutes. It can be seen that none of the conventional antifoam agents nor the farmer's equivalent, diesel oil, gives an acceptably low foam break time. In addition, even at a higher concentration, neither the paraffinic oil adjuvant HVI 60 nor the aromatic hydrocarbon SHELLSOL E showed any suitable antifoam activity. EXAMPLE 2 The antifoam activity of certain paraffinic hydrocarbons was assessed by the above test method and using the following test formulations: A B Active ingredient 60g. 60g. DOBANOL 91-6 500g. 400g. amyl alcohol to 1 L. to 1 L. The results are given in Table II below. TEST AGENT CONCENTRATION (g/l) FORMULATION TIME TO FOAM BREAK n-decane 200 A 1 min 44 sec n-decane 200 B 0 min 43 sec SHELLSOL D70 200 A 5 min 02 sec SHELLSOL D70 200 B 1 min 25 sec n-decane is a 100% paraffin having a molecular weight of 142, a density at 20 deg C of 0.73 kg/l, and a flash point of 46°C. SHELLSOL D 70 from Shell is a combination of paraffinic hydrocarbons, which typically contains in the range of from 49 to 60 % m/m C 11-14 paraffins, in the range of from 40 to 51 % m/m naphthenics, less than 5 % m/m benzene and 0.03 % m/m aromatics, and has a density (ASTM D 1298) at 15 deg C of 0.792 kg/l, an average molecular weight of 174, a flash point (ABEL) of 73 deg C (ASTM D 93 PMcc), and a boiling range of from 190 to 250 deg C. It can be seen that the paraffinic hydrocarbons act very quickly to break the foam formed on dilution and mixing with water. EXAMPLE 3 The antifoam activity of a number of paraffinic hydrocarbons was assessed using a number of metconazole/DOBANOL 91-6/amyl alcohol soluble liquid formulations using the following test method. Water (150mls) was added at room temperature to a 250ml graduated measuring cylinder fitted with a stopper. To this was added the test formulation. The cylinder and contents were then inverted through 180 degrees and back again once every 2 seconds for a total of thirty times, and then allowed to stand. The foam volume (in ml) on the surface of the dilution was recorded initially and again at set time intervals thereafter. The formulations used in the tests and the test results are given in the following Tables in which: n-Decane and SHELLSOL D70 were as in Example 2 above. SHELLSOL D60 from Shell is a combination of paraffinic hydrocarbons, which typically contains in the range of from 46 to 55 % m/m C 10-12 paraffins, in the range of from 45 to 54 % m/m naphthenics, less than 5 % m/m benzene and 0.02 % m/m aromatics, and has a density at 15 deg C (ASTM D 1298) of 0.786 kg/l, a flash point (ABEL) of 66 (ASTM D 93 PMcc), an average molecular weight of 154, and a boiling range of from 178 to 212 deg C. SHELLSOL D40 from Shell is a combination of paraffinic hydrocarbons, which typically contains in the range of from 50 to 60 % m/m C 9-11 paraffins, in the range of from 40 to 50 % m/m naphthenics, less than 5 % m/m benzene and 0.02 % m/m aromatics, and has a density at 15 deg C ( ASTM D 1298) of 0.765 kg/l, a flash point (ABEL) of 40, an average molecular weight of 141, and a boiling range of from 155 to 202 deg C. SHELLSOL TD is an isoparaffinic hydrocarbon from SHELL which typically contains greater than 99 % m/m C 10-11 paraffins, 0 % m/m naphthenics, and 0.01 % m/m aromatics, and has a density at 15 deg C (ASTM D 1298) of 0.751 kg/l, a flash point (ABEL) of 44, an average molecular weight of 164, and a boiling range of from 167 to 195 deg C. SHELLSOL T is an isoparaffinic hydrocarbon from SHELL which typically contains greater than 99 % m/m C 11-12 paraffins, 0 % m/m naphthenics, and 0.01 % m/m aromatics, and has a density at 15 deg C (ASTM D 1298) of 0.761 kg/l, a flash point (ABEL) of 60 (DIN EN 57), an average molecular weight of 169, and a boiling range of from 179 to 218 deg C. The test formulations used were as follows: C D Active ingredient 60g. 60g. DOBANOL 91-6 400g. 450g. paraffinic hydrocarbon 200g. 200g. amyl alcohol to 1 L. to 1 L. From the results it can be seen that in virtually all cases the foam is substantially broken after a minute with residual foam being lost after 3 minutes for formulation C and after 12 minutes for formulation D. TESTS USING FORMULATION C TIME PARAFFINIC HYDROCARBON DECANE D70 D60 D40 TD T Initial 110 120 110 110 120 120 1 min 6 60 6 6 4 4 3 mins Nil 1 Nil Nil Nil Nil 12 mins Nil Nil Nil Nil Nil Nil 30 mins Nil Nil Nil Nil Nil Nil TESTS USING FORMULATION D TIME PARAFFINIC HYDROCARBON DECANE D70 D60 D40 TD T Initial 110 130 120 110 120 120 1 min 6 18 10 6 6 6 3 mins Trace 5 3 4 4 4 12 mins Nil Trace Trace 1 1 1 30 mins Nil Nil Nil Trace Trace Trace

Claims: A crop protection concentrate comprising a crop protection agent, an alcohol ethoxylate and a paraffinic oil wherein the paraffinic oil comprises in the range of from 45 to 100% mass by mass of one or more paraffinic hydrocarbon(s) and has an average molecular weight in the range of from 100 to 200, and the weight ratio of alcohol ethoxylate to paraffinic oil in the concentrate is in the range of from 11:1 to 1:1. A crop protection concentrate according to Claim 1 wherein the paraffinic oil has a density at 15 deg C of in the range of from 0.70 to 0.85 kg/l. A crop protection concentrate according to Claim 1 or Claim 2 wherein the paraffinic oil contains less than 0.1% m/m of aromatics, and the or each paraffinic hydrocarbon has in the range of from 9 to 14 carbon atoms and a flash point of less than 100 deg C. A crop protection concentrate according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the alcohol ethoxylate is present in a concentration in the range of from 300 to 600 g/l and the paraffinic oil is present in a concentration in the range of from 50 to 300 g/l. A crop protection concentrate according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the crop protection agent is metconazole. A crop protection concentrate according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the paraffinic oil has an average molecular weight in the range of from 140 to 170. A crop protection concentrate according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the paraffinic oil is a mix of paraffin components with less than 0.03% m/m of aromatics. A crop protection concentrate according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the paraffinic oil is a combination of hydrocarbons boiling in the range from 155°C to 250°C. A crop protection concentrate according to any one of claims 1 to 7 wherein the paraffinic oil is a combination of hydrocarbons which consists of predominantly branched chain saturate hydrocarbons. A method for preparing a crop protection formulation comprising adding a crop protection concentrate according to any one of the preceding claims to water.

Inventors: COLSON PETER, WEIL HOLGER, COLSON, PETER, WEIL, HOLGER
Applicants: SHELL INT RESEARCH, SHELL INTERNATIONALE RESEARCH
Application year: 1993
Main classification: B01D19
IPC codes: B01D19