Atomization Index to Bridge the Physicochemical Properties of Polymer–Surfactant Adjuvants and Multivariate Spray Metrics: Guiding Pesticide Formulation Efficient Design
- 1College of Engineering, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100083, China
- 2Research Center of Intelligent Equipment, Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences, Beijing 100097, China
- 3School of Agriculture and Food Sustainability, The University of Queensland, Gatton, Queensland 4343, Australia
Abstract
Pesticide spraying is a primary approach for the chemical management of pests, diseases, and weeds. The efficient design of formulations and their accurate application constitute a systems engineering problem that combines formulation chemistry, application technology, and agronomic practice. The droplet size distribution (DSD), which is determined by the physicochemical properties of the formulation during atomization, has a direct influence on deposition efficiency, drift potential, and control performance. Conventional atomization indicators, such as volume median diameter (VMD), Sauter mean diameter ( D 32 ), and relative span (RS), do not adequately provide a quantitative connection between the physicochemical properties of formulations and the droplet size spectrum needed for effective biological control. A comprehensive atomization quality index that incorporates formulation properties and the optimal droplet size is therefore urgently required. To fill this gap, five atomization parameters, relative diffusion ratio (RD), RS, fractal dimension (FD), drift droplet proportion ( V 150 , ≤ 150 μm diameter), and D v0.5 (also referred to as the VMD), were chosen to construct the atomization bridging index (ABI). The ABI allows a comprehensive quantitative assessment of atomization quality and shows a strong correlation with the physicochemical microstructure of the formulation. The analysis indicates that micelle–polymer complexes generated through polymer–surfactant interactions markedly improve the ABI by jointly lowering dynamic surface tension (DST) and increasing viscosity. The evaluation findings show that the associative polyethylene oxide (PEO)/sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) system demonstrates outstanding performance over a broad pressure range. At 250 kPa, the PEO/SDS system at 1× the critical micelle concentration (CMC) reaches the highest ABI value, corresponding to the “Class I (Excellent)” category, and is therefore recommended as the optimal spraying system. Overall, ABI establishes a robust physicochemical-spray linkage framework and provides new guidance for identifying key formulation parameters in pesticide adjuvant design.
Related
- Comparative dielectric and physicochemical assessment of surfactant-free TiO2 and SiO2 nanofluids for high voltage transformer mineral oil
- Rational design of O/W nanoemulsions based on the surfactant dodecyldiglyceryl ether using the normalized HLD concept and the formulation-composition map
- Physicochemical Analysis of Coacervates and Premicellar Aggregates in Amino Acid-Based Surfactant Systems
- Replacing Emulsifiers with Gelation: A Surfactant-Free Approach to Emulgel Formulation Using Polyvinyl Alcohol
- Predicting Synergistic and Antagonistic Micellization Effects in Surfactant Blends for Optimized Formulation Design.
BibTeX
@article{hu2026atomization,
title = {{Atomization Index to Bridge the Physicochemical Properties of Polymer–Surfactant Adjuvants and Multivariate Spray Metrics: Guiding Pesticide Formulation Efficient Design}},
author = {Peng Hu and Ruirui Zhang and Liping Chen and Longlong Li and Qing Tang and Andrew John Hewitt},
journal = {Engineering},
year = {2026},
month = jun,
doi = {10.1016/j.eng.2026.04.019},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eng.2026.04.019},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Atomization Index to Bridge the Physicochemical Properties of Polymer–Surfactant Adjuvants and Multivariate Spray Metrics: Guiding Pesticide Formulation Efficient Design
AU - Peng Hu
AU - Ruirui Zhang
AU - Liping Chen
AU - Longlong Li
AU - Qing Tang
AU - Andrew John Hewitt
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/06/16
JO - Engineering
DO - 10.1016/j.eng.2026.04.019
UR - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eng.2026.04.019
AB - Pesticide spraying is a primary approach for the chemical management of pests, diseases, and weeds. The efficient design of formulations and their accurate application constitute a systems engineering problem that combines formulation chemistry, application technology, and agronomic practice. The droplet size distribution (DSD), which is determined by the physicochemical properties of the formulation during atomization, has a direct influence on deposition efficiency, drift potential, and control performance. Conventional atomization indicators, such as volume median diameter (VMD), Sauter mean diameter ( D 32 ), and relative span (RS), do not adequately provide a quantitative connection between the physicochemical properties of formulations and the droplet size spectrum needed for effective biological control. A comprehensive atomization quality index that incorporates formulation properties and the optimal droplet size is therefore urgently required. To fill this gap, five atomization parameters, relative diffusion ratio (RD), RS, fractal dimension (FD), drift droplet proportion ( V 150 , ≤ 150 μm diameter), and D v0.5 (also referred to as the VMD), were chosen to construct the atomization bridging index (ABI). The ABI allows a comprehensive quantitative assessment of atomization quality and shows a strong correlation with the physicochemical microstructure of the formulation. The analysis indicates that micelle–polymer complexes generated through polymer–surfactant interactions markedly improve the ABI by jointly lowering dynamic surface tension (DST) and increasing viscosity. The evaluation findings show that the associative polyethylene oxide (PEO)/sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) system demonstrates outstanding performance over a broad pressure range. At 250 kPa, the PEO/SDS system at 1× the critical micelle concentration (CMC) reaches the highest ABI value, corresponding to the “Class I (Excellent)” category, and is therefore recommended as the optimal spraying system. Overall, ABI establishes a robust physicochemical-spray linkage framework and provides new guidance for identifying key formulation parameters in pesticide adjuvant design.
SN - 2095-8099
SN - 2096-0026
ER -