Environmental Safety of the Use of Major Surfactant Classes in North America.

This paper brings together over 250 published and unpublished studies on the environmental properties, fate, and toxicity of the four major, high-volume surfactant classes and relevant feedstocks. The surfactants and feedstocks covered include alcohol sulfate or alcohol sulfate (AS), alcohol ethoxysulfate (AES), linear alkylbenzene sulfonate (LAS), alcohol ethoxylate (AE), and long-chain alcohol (LCOH). These chemicals are used in a wide range of personal care and cleaning products.

Assessment of the ecological effects of arsenic on a southern Ohio, USA stream.

Davis Creek is a southern Ohio, USA stream that receives a permitted discharge from the Belpre Elastomers Plant (BEP). A sediment quality triad investigation of Davis Creek was conducted over a 2-y period that included sediment and surface water chemistry measurements, toxicity tests of whole sediment, interstitial and surface water, and benthic and artificial substrate community assessments. The concentration of arsenic in surface and interstitial water was below United States Environmental Protection Agency ambient water quality criteria and was not toxic in laboratory tests (Ceriodaphnia dubia, Pimephales promelas).

A stream mesocosm study on the ecological effects of a C12-15 linear alcohol ethoxylate surfactant.

The responses of fish, invertebrates, and periphyton during a 56-day exposure to a C(12-15) linear alcohol ethoxylate surfactant were studied in stream mesocosms. An individual stream consisted of a slow-flowing pool section and a faster-flowing riffle section. The surfactant has an average distribution of nine ethoxylate groups per mole of alcohol.

Spatial and temporal variability in the structure of invertebrate assemblages in control stream mesocosms.

Outdoor stream mesocosm studies conducted between 1992 and 1996 at two facilities enabled the investigation of structural variability in invertebrate assemblages within and between studies. Temporal variability of benthic invertebrate assemblages between eight replicate streams within a study was assessed in a 28-day mesocosm study without chemical treatment. Cluster analysis, non-metric multidimensional scaling, and principal component analysis each showed the untreated assemblages as structurally distinct groups on the three sampling days.

Ecological effects of an anionic C12-15 AE-3S alkylethoxysulfate surfactant in outdoor stream mesocosms.

The ecological assessment of a C12-15 AE-3S linear alkylethoxysulfate (AES) anionic surfactant to invertebrates, fish, periphyton, and an aquatic macrophyte was conducted in a 30-d outdoor stream mesocosm study with five replicated concentrations and controls. Alkylethoxysulfate structural integrity and exposure concentrations were maintained during the 30-d treatment period, with average measured concentrations of 0.7, 1.