Comparative Evaluation of Environmental Impact of Selected Ethoxylate Fatty Alcohols and Ethoxylate Fatty Acid Methyl Esters As Nonionic Surfactants

This work presents a comparative ecological assessment of dodecanolethoxylates and rapeseed acid methyl ester ethoxylates as nonionic surfactants. It was found that ethoxylated rapeseed acid methyl esters show higher biodegradability and lower aquatic toxicity compared to 1-dodecanol ethoxylates. A prognostic model for environmental impact of the studied series of surfactants was developed using the data from biodegradation and aquatic toxicity tests combined with estimated concentration of the surfactants in a wastewater stream. It is shown that an ecological risk of bulk application of dodecanolethoxylates can be expected over a longer term, while significant reduction of environmental fate would occur by the alternative use of ethoxylated rapeseed acid methyl esters. We concluded that ethoxylated rapeseed acid methyl esters can be considered as environmentally superior surfactants.