January 3, 2000

ALKYLPHENOLS BULLETIN
NEW REVIEW: APEs IN DETERGENTS POSE LITTLE RISK TO ENVIRONMENT

A newly published environmental risk assessment by The Soap and Detergent Association finds that the current use of alkylphenol ethoxylates (APEs) in detergents and cleaning products in the United States poses little or no risk to the environment.

The risk assessment, published as an SDA monograph and focused primarily on conditions in the United States, concludes that concentrations of APEs in the environment are "well below thresholds of toxicity, except possibly where wastewater treatment is poor or absent." It notes that APE surfactants are well studied and have been used in cleaning products and industrial processing for almost 50 years.

Various issues surrounding APEs, such as biodegradability, have been subject to "vigorous debate." In its review and comparison of all available data on toxicity and environmental concentrations, the SDA monograph reaches the following conclusions:

• Biodegradability: APEs are "inherently biodegradable." They undergo rapid breakdown during conventional wastewater treatment and continue to degrade in aerated water and soil.

• Treatability: Studies of US wastewater treatment plants show very high treatability (up to 99.8%) under real-world conditions.

• Bioaccumulation: Bioaccumulation potential of APEs is minimal since uptake in aquatic organisms is modest and reversible.

• Aquatic exposure: The impact of APE on the aquatic environment is "minimal" when disposed of properly in wastewater treatment systems. APEs were not detected in most water samples in a comprehensive survey of US rivers receiving wastewater discharges. The levels of nonylphenol and nonylphenol ethoxylates in the most polluted rivers surveyed were "well below" the no-observable effect concentration of the most sensitive species.

• Sediment exposure: Levels of nonylphenol in river sediments are at least an order of magnitude below the toxicity threshold to benthic organisms. Ethoxylate levels in sediment are even lower.

• Soil/sludge: Nonylphenol at levels of 100 mg/kg or less in soil, dosed via sewage sludge, has no effect on microorganisms in the soil.

• Estrogenic effects: Recent studies in the UK and the US found the nonylphenol-containing fractions from treatment plant effluents were estrogenically inactive.

The SDA monograph titled "Alkyphenol Ethoxylate" includes references. One free copy can be ordered on the SDA web site: http://www.sdahq.org. For additional copies ($2.00 each) write to: The Soap and Detergent Association, 475 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10016.                                                                                                                              

 

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