Diethanolamide Surfactant-Ethanol 96% Solvent and Its Application on Pesticide Emulsion Product.

Abstract

Nettle caterpillars (Setothosea asigna) are one of the common insects found in palm tree plantation which significantly reduce palm oil by eating palm tree leaves. Surfactant is commonly used as an emulsifier and stabilizer in the pesticide mixture to refrain the mixture from separating. Commercial surfactants that is are being used by the farmers holds the emulsion for approximately 2. The performance of Diethanolamide (DEA) as surfactant for the insecticide mixture was investigated in this research. The various concentration of DEA in pesticide mixture showed the increasing mixture stability up to 24 hours before separating. Commercial surfactant used by the farmers is at 7-10% of the mixture. Meanwhile, DEA lowers the percentage of usage to 5%. The reduction of percentage of surfactant usage leads to the reduction of surfactant cost. Sample A5B5 found to be the best among other surfactants. Sample A5B5 has the density of 0.878 g/cm3, viscosity of 19.72 cP, surface tension of 24.311 dyne/cm, and contact angle of 31.7830.