710185Production of Nanomaterials - Herbicide Formulation with Reduced Environmental Impact and Enhanced ActivityClosedGRD Proof of ConceptInnovate UKThis project aims to scale-up a new manufacturing process that will enable production of herbicides with enhanced bio-availability to allow lower application rates without loss of efficacy. The technical approach will apply novel nano-grinding processing technology and polymeric stabilisation to reduce and maintain the particle size of crystalline agrochemicals, thus increasing their rate of solubility and bio-availability in crop protection.The project will focus on a mixture of isoproturon (IPU) and diflufenican (DFF) as an exemplar of these novel processes: IPU is widely used in the EU, though use in the UK is suspended due to concerns over exposure rates. Field trial evaluation of laboratory samples of formulations in the UK, Germany and Poland, has demonstrated reduction of IPU application rates from 1500g/ha to under 250g/ha. This use rate will enable significantly lower environmental and personal exposure to IPU, and create substantial commercial opportunities for the project participant as well as spill-over benefits to the supply chain. Success of this project is expected to enable the re-introduction of IPU in the UK, and compete with all existing IPU-containing herbicides in other territories. We anticipate that the processes and principles identified in this project will be applicable to a number of other compounds, thus opening up significant new commercial opportunities.