Determination of oil,emulsifier and polymer or salt content of spray adjuvants

A method for the separation of the oil, emulsifier and polymer or salt fractions of adjuvants is described. The adjuvant is dissolved in 90% aqueous ethanol and filtered to remove polymers or salt. Light petroleum (distillation range 30–40°C) is added to the solution in a separating funnel. The light petroleum fraction is subsequently extracted with successive aliquots of 80, 70, 60 and 50% aqueous ethanol. The whole of the ethanol and light petroleum fractions are evaporated to dryness to yield the emulsifier and oil fractions respectively. Emulsifier, oil and polymer or salt are determined gravimetrically. The method successfully detected the presence of polymer or salt in adjuvants, but could not distinguish between them when both were present in the same product. The adjuvants could be classified into four broad classes; those containing > 70% emulsifier (wetter-spreaders), those containing > 75% oil (anti-evaporants), those containing a high proportion of polymer (film-forming substances), and those containing comparable amounts of all three components (multi-purpose adjuvants).