Student to receive funding for intelligent agrochemicals

Vadim Vasilyev, a student of the Institute of Chemistry, is developing Highly intelligent agrochemicals based on natural polymer capsules. His project, as well as other 110 projects at KFU, is the winner of Phase V of the Student Startup competition.

“A huge amount of fertilizers used (in some cases it is more than 60 percent) are not assimilated by plants, which leads to the need for their repeated introduction into the soil. In addition, all those active substances have a negative impact on the environment,” explains Vasilyev.

So he searched for a solution that would reduce both environmental risks and economic costs by reducing the consumption of mineral fertilizers and using them more efficiently. Polymer microcapsules turned out to be promising. According to the developer, they are relatively harmless and biodegradable.

“At first, the polymer partially limits the output of the active, that is, the main substance from the microparticles, and the plant begins to gradually assimilate it. Over time, the active ingredient becomes less, but the polymer itself begins to decompose and release more of the substance. In this way, the release rate of the fertilizer is equalized and, consequently, the efficiency of its assimilation is increased. This is called the prolonged release property. Controlled release of fertilizers can be achieved by developing a universal technique that will allow changing the properties of agrochemicals by varying the conditions of synthesis, thereby optimizing their characteristics for use in different environmental conditions – soils, climate, humidity and so on,” describes the young researcher.

It should be noted that the young man was assisted in synthesizing and researching the results by experienced mentors – Associate Professor of the Department of Physical Chemistry Rustem Zairov and Laboratory Research Assistant of the Laboratory of the Materials for Hydrogen Energy and Traditional Energy with a Low Carbon Footprint Alexei Dovzhenko.

The student adds that biodegradable polymers, such as chitosan or polylactide (PLA), allow to create a mechanically strong but degradable shell for the active component – this is their competitive quality. He also notea that the technology of ‘wrapping’ substances in a polymer is not new. It is already actively used, for example, for targeted drug delivery in medicine. The synthesis methodology and the agrochemicals obtained on its basis will combine the main advantages of existing encapsulated materials, Vadim emphasizes.

The 1 million rubles won by Vasilyev in the Student Startup competition will be used to purchase the necessary equipment, materials and reagents for the synthesis of agrochemicals, conduct a marketing campaign, and organize the research.

“I consider the technology promising and I am sure that it will definitely find application in agricultural industry and agriculture. Agricultural companies growing vegetable, berry, flower and green crops in industrial greenhouses will be interested in the product,” shares the young scientist. “We plan to enter the market of agrochemicals in Russia and friendly countries.”