The novel NOR light stabilizer for agrofilm in critical agrochemical conditions

According to the United Nations estimates, over 9 billion people will be living on Earth by the year 2050. The amount of arable land needed to feed them, however, will not increase at the same rate. Inexpensive greenhouses made from agricultural plastic film represent one way to solve this problem: With the aid of such greenhouses, the output per hectare can be increased considerably. 

China's agricultural film production ranks first in the world, accounting for more than half of the world's agricultural film production. China has nearly 1000 large-scale agricultural film production enterprises, with a total production capacity of more than 4 million tons. In 2020, China's annual apparent consumption of agricultural film reached more than 2.8 million tons.

Most agricultural films need to be used outdoors, and its service life is one of the important indexes for the quality of agricultural films. However, in addition to the basic resin molecular weight distribution, catalyst residue, degree of branching of molecules and other indicators of the resin itself, external conditions such as UV intensity, the addition of other additives and films utilized environment, can have great impact on the service life of agricultural film too. Among these factors, the daily ultraviolet light can destroy polyolefin molecules and break down the long chain molecules into short pieces. Therefore, all kinds of aging resistant agricultural films need light stabilizers to meet the corresponding service life requirements. Light stabilizers are the most important and necessary additive for the "long life" of agricultural films. 

As a result of urban growth, and also because of increased erosion and climate change, the amount of arable land is decreasing. The challenge is how to increase the intensity of agricultural activity while keeping the products affordable. 

Optimized agriculture includes carefully considered use of agricultural chemicals to prevent harvests from attack by pests or mold. However, most pesticides will react with the "longevity guard" light stabilizers in the agricultural plastic film. These deactivated light stabilizers cannot protect the agricultural film anymore, resulting in the premature failure phenomenon of those agricultural films. This can result in decreased crop yield, and loss of income to the farmer.

BASF, as a global leader in plastic additives, developed its Tinuvin^® NOR^® 356 which is based on the advanced NOR^® technology. This changes the molecular structure of the light stabilizer so that the reactivity between the light stabilizer and the active groups of pesticides is reduced immensely. It leads to a much longer service life in an environment of high pesticide residues and rebuts all the disadvantages.   

Its advantages are as below: 

1) New generation NOR^® HALS with outstanding light stability

2) High resistance to critical levels of chemicals: >3,000ppm S, 200ppm Cl

(Greenhouse Cover of the Spanish Agricultural Research Institute.)

The above data shows that under the condition of continuous high sulfur fumigation, the service life of agricultural film is more than 3 years.

3) Higher transmission of visible light with positive impact on crop yield and quality, and no interaction with natural pollinators

4) Low interaction with pigments

Tinuvin^®  NOR^® 356 brings excellent light stability, long service life under critical pesticide environment, and good light transmittance as well as other properties, that provide a strong boost for the increase of crop yield and the farmer’s income. In addition, it can be used in all kinds of agricultural plastic products based on Polyolefin plastics, such as agricultural greenhouse film, mulch film, irrigation pipe system, silage bags, etc.