ADAMA recycles 100% residue of protioconazole, 70% of picoxystrobin

Protioconazole and picoxystrobin, two essential active ingredients for controlling soybean diseases and produced exclusively by ADAMA in Brazil, have 100% and 70% of their residues recycled by the company, respectively. 

The multinational revealed the data to AgroPages, referring to the factories focused on the synthesis of active ingredients in the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul.

"As environmental awareness grows, the cleaner synthesis of products, from the production of the active ingredient to the use of residues, becomes increasingly urgent. We are attentive to this at ADAMA, and Formulation is one of the five strategic business pillars, and we are a reference in innovative formulations, with high-productivity products that are increasingly sustainable," said Roberson Marczak, Manager of Innovation and Sustainability, in the country.

The company claims to have adopted an "innovative approach" to dealing with the waste generated during the synthesis of the fungicide protioconazole. ADAMA is the only one in the country that produces the active ingredient and supplies it to other companies. Initially, they faced the challenge of dealing with large quantities of ferrous chloride, an unusable residue generated from ferric chloride used in the active ingredient production process. However, as an alternative to discarding the waste, the ADAMA team developed a strategy to treat and recycle these residues.

According to Luciano Porto, Coordinator of the Health, Safety, and Environment area of ADAMA in Taquari, the residue is recycled within the company's own production process, which transforms the residue into raw material again and reintroduces it into the production process. 

"Our initial goal was to recycle 50% of the volume of this waste, but after studies, we were able to advance, and today, we have reached 100% recycling within the unit," Porto explained.

The company also invested in adapting the biological treatment station within its facilities in Taquari, using specially adapted bacteria to degrade these effluents, enabling 100% internal treatment of another effluent from protioconazole. This initiative drastically reduced the volume of waste and effluents generated that would have been treated in other states, with the goal of achieving zero waste in the production of protioconazole, an active ingredient present in the company's award-winning fungicides Almada^® and Armero^®.

"These actions not only minimize the environmental impact but also generate savings by reintroducing by-products into the process and reducing the need to purchase raw materials. All while maintaining the highest quality standards," Porto highlighted.

In the production process of picoxystrobin, another active ingredient of the company present in the fungicide Blindado^® T.O.V., it generated 129 tons of waste annually that were sent for incineration at a high environmental and economic cost. Aware of the impact on sustainability, a multidisciplinary team delved into the search for solutions to make the process more sustainable, and after evaluating various possibilities, the purification of the waste through a vacuum evaporation system proved promising.

With this recycling system, over the past 3 years, the company has been able to reduce by approximately 70% the waste that would have been incinerated in the synthesis of the fungicide, making better use of the raw material in the factory and minimizing the production of effluents and waste. 

"These success stories reinforce our commitment, efforts, and investments to make our processes more sustainable and profitable, offering quality solutions with innovative formulations in agricultural pesticides to Brazilian producers," Marczak highlighted.

Seeking innovation and assisting the producer, the company developed an exclusive technology in its solutions, called T.O.V. - Technology, Simplified Operation and Value for the producer. 

"The fungicides Armero^®, Almada^®, and Blindado^® T.O.V. contain this formulation, and each of them is developed with different active ingredients, carrying an innovative technology and delivering sustainability to the producer from its production," Marczak said in conclusion.

(Editing by Leonardo Gottems, reporter for AgroPages)