China: Two pesticide adjuvants will be completely banned

Recently, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment has released a draft of the List of Key new pollutants under Control (2022) and is soliciting comments until Oct 28, 2022.

The list includes 14 new pollutants of priority control, of which Perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and Nonylphenol, both common surfactants, are expected to have the greatest impact on agrochemical companies. Since pesticide uses are not covered by the exemption, this means they will be banned altogether.

PFOS, composed of fully fluorinated anions of perfluorinated acid, are known to exist as anions in salts, derivatives and polymers. It is widely used in specialized industrial, commercial and consumer fields for anti-fouling, oil-proofing and water-proofing of clothing.

Nonylphenol is an important fine chemical raw materials and intermediates. Its appearance at room temperature for colorless or light and yellow liquid, slightly phenol odor, insoluble in water, soluble in Acetone. Mainly used in the production of surfactants, also used in antioxidant, textile printing and dyeing auxiliaries, lubricating oil additives, pesticide emulsifiers, resin modifiers, resin and rubber stabilizer and other fields.

The production and processing of PFOS is prohibited and only allowed to be used in the production of fire extinguishing foam agents, according to the List (2022) . It is forbidden to use Nonylphenol as adjuvants to produce pesticide products.