Chemical Industry | Pesticides

Pesticide Processing

Using high pressure homogenizers for pesticides is critical in the agrochemical industry. Many herbicides, insecticides and fungicides contain solid aggregate granules or oil-based liquids that need to be homogenized in water.  This water and aggregate mixture is then sprayed onto crops, etc.  So in the agrochemical world, you are either dealing with deagglomerating solid granules and particles into liquid phases or you are dealing with the emulsification of water and pesticide oils.

In many cases, the companies that manufacture these materials must contend with reducing the particle size of solids AND mixing them into a sustainable, long lasting suspension.  Add to this that there may be oils that also don’t like mixing with the water and you invariably end up with a two or even three stage process.  In the initial stage you may use dry grinding equipment like bead or ball mills to reduce the aggregate particle size.  Then you move on to adding your water and dispersants that help the solids stay in suspension.  At this point, you may encounter re-agglomeration where the solids particles start to fuse together in the liquid medium.  This is a common problem.  Then lastly you have to emulsify the mixture if any oils have been introduced.