An aquatic environmental safety assessment of linear alkylbenzene

Abstract

Linear alkylbenzene (LAB), the parent material from which the detergent surfactant linear alkylbenzene sulfonate (LAS) is manufactured, has the potential to enter the environment from several sources. Solubility, vapor pressure and soil partition measurements indicate that LAB would be distributed in air or adsorbed to soil or sediment. The material does not accumulate to significant levels in fish (BCF = 35) or undergo chemical or photochemical degradation in screening studies. LAB is readily biodegradable in natural waters with half‐lives for various isomers and homologs in the 4‐ to 9‐day range. LAB is not acutely toxic to a variety of aquatic species, other than Daphnia magna, within its water solubility range. For Daphnia, chronic studies in clean water systems indicate both growth and reproduction to be affected in the 10 to 20 μg/L range. LAB is substantially removed by typical sewage treatment plants. Receiving waters collected from sites receiving low sewage effluent dilution generally contain less than 1 μg/L. Based on the ratio of the chronic no‐effect level for Daphnia to the environmental concentration, the conservative nature of selected monitoring sites i.e., providing low sewage effluent dilution) and the fact that LAB partitions strongly to particulates in the water column, adequate environmental safety margins exist for LAB.

Use of Trialkylamines as a Marker of Sewage Addition into the Marine Environment

“…At present, a realistic environmental fate assessment of TAMs in the aquatic environment is precluded due to the lack of knowledge of key physico-chemical properties. Although similar behavior to TAMs has been reported for the photooxidation of LABs [38], they still show a preferential depletion of the internal substituted isomers in either in vitro cultures [35] or in environmental samples [16,18,23,25]. The ratio of internal to external isomers has indeed proposed as a degradation index [36].…”

“…The ratio of internal to external isomers has indeed proposed as a degradation index [36]. Gledhill et al [38] have applied a multimedia fugacity model to evaluate the fate of LABs in the environment and found that the atmospheric compartment is by far the most favored at equilibrium.…”

Distribution of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) and phenolic endocrine disrupting chemicals in South and Southeast Asian mussels

“…LABs consist of isomers with different phenyl substitutional positions. External isomers (i.e., isomers whose phenyl substitutional positions are near the terminal end of the alkyl chain) are preferentially biodegraded as compared to internal isomers (Bayona et al 1986;Takada and Ishiwatari 1990;Gledhill et al 1991;Gustafsson et al 2001). To quantitatively express the isomer composition, a ratio of internal to external isomers (i.e.…”

Molecular Markers and Environmental Organic Geochemistry: An Overview

“…The existing database is spotty, at best (e.g. 41), and this limits the use of numerical modeling to predict the transport and fate of these compounds (86,87). Another important consideration is the nature of phase associations established during synthesis/production and how these affect exchange between solid and aqueous phases (e.g.…”