Green chemicals
Larderello’s A-Z: from Agriculture to ZHS
Agriculture, you know all about.
But ZHS?
You’re forgiven if you’ve never heard of it. It stands for zinc hydroxystannate and Larderello is about to start making a lot more of it.
We’ll be honest at this point: ZHS is not a new agrochemical. At FertiGlobal, our focus remains our founding mission: to reduce the use of harsh chemicals in agriculture, by developing bio-activating technologies and advanced crop nutrition solutions that boost plant natural defences and improve resilience to climate change and other adversities.
Yet the overriding objective common to FertiGlobal and Larderello, as the sister operating units of SCL, is to build on over 200 years of chemical innovation by looking to new solutions – be those products or processes – that reduce environmental impact and increase safety.
This is why ZHS is so important. It’s from the important category of flame retardants – chemicals that, when added to other materials, slow down or inhibit the spread of fire. They’re in widespread use – think of fabrics, construction materials, even aircraft interiors. All use flame retardants to either help prevent accidents, or to slow the further development of flames should a fire take hold.
But in a parallel with agrochemicals, some of the earlier, more commonly used flame retardants are being phased out, as newer and safer products come to market. ZHS is one of those newer products: its non-toxic profile, ability to reduce smoke emissions and significant end-of-life environmental advantages (for example, it can be recycled without issue) have helped make it an ‘in demand’ chemical. It can be incorporated into a wide range of materials including important polymers (or plastics) such as PVC and nylon, including many of the plastics used in horticulture – for example in greenhouses.
Larderello started to manufacture ZHS in 2011. Now, with increased demand for the chemical and the company’s overall commitment to reduce its environmental footprint across every aspect of its operations – from production to end-use – the time has come to invest in a new plant that will not only double production capacity but also reduce the energy needed to produce every kilogram of ZHS.
What’s more, this commitment to greener technology, sustainable production and resource-efficiency qualifies the new plant as an Industry 5.0 project. In turn, that’s meant we’ve been granted a €6.5 million loan from UniCredit’s Futuro Sostenibile Plus, an initiative dedicated to companies that commit to improving their environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance.
That’s also come with the backing of the Growth Guarantee from SACE, the insurance-financial group owned by Italy’s Ministry of Economy and Finance. Which, as SACE itself explains, ‘elevates a company like SCL and contributes to our country’s green and digital transition goals’.
For us at FertiGlobal, the ZHS news reaffirms to us – and we hope our customers too – the real commitment that underlines the FertiGlobal approach. Sustainability isn’t just a veneer; it runs right through us, in everything we do.
Take EnNuVi, for example. Awarded through the European LIFE programme, this is – literally – a roots-up technology aiming to change the environmental impact of agriculture on the environment, without compromising the demand for food and productivity. By rethinking our approach, we were able to create a brand-new formulation combining bioactive polyphenols with nutritive elements. Its effect? The triggering and control of plants’ natural defences to counter biotic and abiotic stresses, all the while decreasing the use of pesticides, reducing water consumption, and improving on-farm resilience.
Wherever there’s an opportunity to reduce environmental impact, to make better use of resources, to make all our products human-centric – from flame-retardants to farming, we’ll do it.