Engineers at the North Carolina State University (NCSU) have developed a pioneering solid lubricant for aiding agricultural seed dispersal that is biodegradable and non-toxic.
Modern agriculture, of course, employs a range of equipment to plant and harvest crops. In many cases, lubricant needs like gear oil and hydraulic oil can be met with nature-based solutions like the Shell Naturelle range. When sowing seeds mechanically, however, the seeds can often jam in the machinery. To prevent this from happening, farmers often mix the seeds with solid lubricants that stop any clumping up or adhesion of the seeds. Microplastics or talc are often used in commercial products, however, and these can have undesirable environmental and safety consequences.
One of the paper’s authors and an NCSU professor of materials science, Martin Thuo, explained the motivation behind the study:
“There is a growing body of research that suggests microplastics are problematic for both human and environmental health, and we wanted to create a new lubricant that was safe and biodegradable. We ended up with something that is also relatively inexpensive, efficient, and makes use of sustainable, readily available materials.”
The new class of solid lubricant is based on cellulose fibres that are just 10-40 microns across and 0.2-2 millimetres long. Being plant-based, cellulose is biodegradable, but to repel water, the fibres are also coated with hydrophobic particles. To the naked eye, the end result looks like a powder that can be mixed with seeds to reduce the friction between them as they come into contact.
