IDS Tetrasodium: The Sustainable Chelating Agent Revolutionising Industrial and Agricultural Applications

As environmental regulations tighten globally, Yuanlian Chemical's innovative green chelating technology offers compliant solutions for European industries

In today's increasingly stringent regulatory environment, traditional chelating agents like EDTA face growing restrictions due to their persistent nature in the environment. IDS Tetrasodium (Iminodisuccinic Acid Tetrasodium Salt) emerges as a sustainable alternative, combining excellent biodegradability with superior chelating performance.

Shandong Yuanlian Chemical Co., Ltd., a leading green chemical manufacturer, has developed IDS products that not only excel in industrial cleaning and paper bleaching applications but also demonstrate remarkable results in agriculture – research shows it can increase crop yields by up to 27% in saline-alkali soils.

 

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The Challenge with Traditional Chelating Agents: Environmental Impact and Regulatory Pressure

Conventional chelating agents including EDTA (Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid), DTPA, and NTA demonstrate poor biodegradability in natural environments, leading to accumulation in soil and water systems.

The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) has listed EDTA as a "Substance of Very High Concern" under REACH regulations. Meanwhile, China's latest Agricultural Non-Point Source Pollution Control Action Plan mandates a 50% reduction in persistent chelating agent residues in farmland soils by 2027.

Sunflower growers in Inner Mongolia experienced firsthand the limitations of traditional chelators – continued use led to soil compaction and a 12% increase in empty seed rate.

IDS Tetrasodium: Combining Environmental Safety with Superior Performance

As a fourth-generation green chelating agent awarded the Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award, IDS Tetrasodium resolves the environmental and efficacy challenges facing traditional alternatives.

Environmental Credentials

IDS offers complete biodegradability, achieving 92% degradation within 28 days without environmental persistence. This ensures no accumulation in soil or water systems, creating a natural cycle from "cradle to cradle."

Chelating Performance

IDS demonstrates excellent chelation effects for various metal ions, with particularly superior chelation capacity for iron and copper ions compared to EDTA.

Research confirms that IDS's chelation capacity for manganese, calcium, zinc and other transition metal ions matches or exceeds EDTA performance. Comparative studies at Shandong Agricultural University showed that under identical saline-alkaline conditions, IDS-chelated zinc achieved 42% crop absorption rate – 27% higher than EDTA-chelated zinc.

Application Stability

IDS maintains exceptional stability with hydrogen peroxide, crucial for paper pulp bleaching processes. Even under extreme alkaline conditions (pH 10), it retains 85% chelation efficiency, offering new technical pathways for saline-alkali soil remediation.

Yuanlian Chemical: Pioneering Green Chelation Technology

Shandong Yuanlian Chemical Co., Ltd., as a National High-Tech Enterprise, specializes in developing, producing, and marketing innovative green chemical products, with IDS products demonstrating exceptional performance across multiple sectors.

Technical Excellence

Yuanlian Chemical has independently developed IDS Tetrasodium through collaborations with leading institutions including Nankai University, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, and Shandong Agricultural University, achieving world-leading standards.

Addressing the limitations of traditional manufacturing processes – such as high temperature/pressure requirements, low yield, and high purification costs – Yuanlian Chemical has optimized the production process to achieve 99%-100% product purity without further purification requirements.

Production Capabilities

Currently, Yuanlian Chemical maintains an annual production capacity of over 6,000 tons of various additives, with output value exceeding 100 million yuan. The company employs a comprehensive technical team where 90% hold bachelor's degrees, including 3 senior engineers and 6 professionally certified engineers, supported by several agricultural science experts as technical consultants.

Application Performance: Validated Across Multiple Industries

Agricultural Applications

IDS demonstrates remarkable effectiveness in agriculture, particularly for saline-alkali soil improvement. Data from Xinjiang cotton fields shows that using IDS reduced boll shedding rate from 35% to 16%, increasing seed cotton yield to over 400 kg per mu.

The "smart" release characteristics prove particularly valuable – when chelates reach the rhizosphere, organic acids secreted by root systems trigger molecular conformation changes, precisely releasing metal ions.

Established application protocols for different crops include:

• Cotton: 0.2% concentration through drip irrigation, with 2 additional applications during boll formation, reducing shedding rate by over 19%

• Sunflowers: 0.5 kg/mu added to base fertilizer, with 0.3% solution foliar spray during flowering, increasing oil content by 2 percentage points

• Fruits and vegetables: Root dipping with 0.1% solution during transplanting, followed by spraying during fruit setting, reducing deformed fruit rate by 18-22%

Paper Industry Applications

In pulp H₂O₂ bleaching, IDS performs comparably to EDTA as a chelating agent. Research indicates optimal conditions for eucalyptus pulp H₂O₂ bleaching pretreatment: temperature 60°C, duration 50 minutes, IDS dosage 0.3%; for bagasse pulp: temperature 70°C, duration 60 minutes, IDS dosage 0.8%.

Industrial Cleaning and Water Treatment

For industrial cleaning applications, IDS effectively cleans hard surfaces when combined with surfactants. It's particularly recommended for neutral cleaning agents used to remove iron rust and iron sulfide scale from metal pipeline networks, especially in natural gas pipeline cleaning.

Heavy Metal Treatment and Soil Remediation

As an efficient heavy metal capture agent, IDS forms strong chelation complexes with most heavy metal ions, demonstrating excellent removal efficiency. For soil remediation, IDS serves as an extractant for soil heavy metal contaminants, providing in-situ passivation of heavy metals in paddy soils, reducing heavy metal content in both soil and rice.

Market Outlook: Opportunities in the Era of Regulatory Transition

The global IDHA (including IDS) chelating agent market has grown from $120 million in 2022 to $380 million in 2025, representing a compound annual growth rate exceeding 50%.

This explosive growth stems from converging regulatory drivers and market demand shifts.

Current domestic applications primarily target heavy metal treatment, paper manufacturing, agriculture, and water treatment sectors. The detergent industry represents untapped potential, as current market offerings lack the required purity levels.

Yuanlian Chemical's IDS products with 99%-100% purity require no further purification, offering compelling cost-performance advantages with significant development potential, application prospects, and profit margins in consumer and high-end sectors including detergents and cosmetics.

Strategic Transition Recommendations: From Conventional to Green Solutions

Facing the green transition in chelating agent markets, how should enterprises position themselves?

Product Development Direction: Develop high-purity IDS products meeting premium market requirements. Yuanlian Chemical's optimized process achieves over 99% product purity with shorter reaction times and reduced energy consumption.

Market Promotion Strategy: Provide customized solutions addressing different industry characteristics. For fertilizer manufacturers, IDS's compatibility advantages are significant – integration into compound fertilizer production requires no modifications to existing production lines, with chelation structures remaining stable even during 80°C high-temperature granulation.

Regulatory Alignment: Align with national environmental policy directions, proactively establishing green product lines. Under the Agricultural Non-Point Source Pollution Control Action Plan, green chelating agents will experience explosive growth.

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As environmental regulations continue to tighten, market space for traditional persistent chelating agents like EDTA will gradually shrink, while green, efficient, and biodegradable alternatives like IDS Tetrasodium will become mainstream.

For fertilizer producers, industrial cleaning companies, and paper manufacturers, mastering IDS application technologies and positioning in the green chelating agent market represents not only compliance with environmental requirements but strategic positioning for future market leadership.

The green transition is no longer optional – it's imperative. Companies like Yuanlian Chemical provide crucial technical support and product assurance for this essential transformation.