Agricultural Compositions Containing Structured Surfactant Systems

Abstract

Agricultural compositions that employ structured surfactant systems to suspend water-insoluble or sparingly soluble agricultural actives and/or adjuvants are disclosed. Also disclosed are agricultural compositions that combine structured surfactant systems with electrolytes to form structured electrolyte compositions. The structured surfactant systems, both with and without electrolyte, suspend one or more agricultural actives and/or crop oil and non-aqueous adjuvants to provide agricultural compositions that can combine combinations of actives in a single, stable composition.

1 . An agricultural composition comprising:
 (a) a structured surfactant system comprising water, and from 5% to 40% by weight of the composition of a mixture of surfactants, wherein the mixture of surfactants consists of:
 at least one high HLB surfactant having an HLB value of 10 or greater than 10 selected from the group consisting of alkyl phosphate esters, alkyl alkoxylate phosphate esters, arylalkoxylate phosphate esters, aryl alkoxylates, EO/PO alkoxylates, alkyl sulfates, alkyl ether sulfates, and combinations thereof, and at least one low HLB surfactant having an HLB value of less than 10 selected from the group consisting of fatty alcohols, fatty alcohol ethoxylates, fatty acid amides, and combinations thereof, wherein the high HLB surfactant and the low HLB surfactant are present in an amount and at a weight ratio effective to form the structured surfactant system; and 
   (b) from 10% to 80% by weight of the compositions of at least one water insoluble or sparingly water soluble pesticide stably suspended within the structured surfactant system.   
     
     
         2 . The agricultural composition of  claim 1 , wherein the agricultural composition further comprises at least one non-aqueous adjuvant suspended within the system. 
     
     
         3 . The agricultural composition of  claim 2 , wherein the non-aqueous adjuvant comprises from 5% to 30% by weight of the composition. 
     
     
         4 . The agricultural composition of  claim 1 , wherein the pesticide comprises from about 15% to about 70% by weight of the composition. 
     
     
         5 . The agricultural composition of  claim 1  wherein the mixture of surfactants comprises from about 5% to about 25% by weight of the composition. 
     
     
         6 . The agricultural composition of  claim 1 , wherein the composition further comprises a water-insoluble pesticide dissolved in the low HLB surfactant. 
     
     
         7 . The agricultural composition of  claim 6 , wherein the composition comprises N,N-dimethyl octanamide or N,N-dimethyl decanamide as the low HLB surfactants, and alkyl ether sulfate with 2 moles of ethylene oxide as the high HLB surfactant. 
     
     
         8 . The agricultural composition of  claim 1 , wherein the ratio of the at least one surfactant having an HLB value of less than 10 to the at least one surfactant having an HLB value of 10 or greater is from about 4:1 to about 1:4. 
     
     
         9 . The agricultural composition of  claim 1 , wherein the low HLB surfactant is an alcohol ethoxylate having a carbon chain length of 9 to 13 carbon atoms and 2-3 moles of ethylene oxide and the high HLB surfactant is a combination of tristyrylphenol ethoxylate and EO/PO alkoxylate. 
     
     
         10 . The agricultural composition of  claim 1 , wherein the low HLB surfactant is an alcohol ethoxylate having a carbon chain length of 9 to 13 carbon atoms and 2-3 moles of ethylene oxide, and the high HLB surfactant is a combination of tristyrylphenol ethoxylate phosphate ester and EO/PO alkoxylate. 
     
     
         11 . The agricultural composition of  claim 1 , wherein the composition has a suspensibility of at least 90%. 
     
     
         12 . The agricultural composition of  claim 1 , wherein the composition has a suspensibility of at least 95%.