SURFONIC® L24-5

• Personal Care Products

• Laundry and Hand Dishwash Detergents

• Linear alcohol ethoxylates, including the SURFONIC L series surfactants, undergo rapid and extensive biodegradation under both laboratory and environmental conditions.
• Their mineralization to CO₂ and water (ultimate biodegradation) is essentially complete during biological wastewater treatments at warm to cold water temperatures.
• They are degraded by bacteria in rivers, lakes, groundwater and sediment as well.
• The major mechanism of biodegradation is cleavage of the ethoxylate chain from the alkyl group with oxidation of the latter to fatty acid.
• The fatty acid degrades more rapidly than the ethoxylate chain, which is broken down by sequential oxidation and removal of ethoxylate units.
• Alcohol ethoxylates begin to lose their toxicity toward aquatic organisms as soon as biodegradation begins.
• Water containing degraded surfactant has been shown not to adversely affect fish, invertebrates and algae.
• Thus, while alcohol ethoxylates are toxic to aquatic organisms, in the event of a spill into a waterway any acute effects would be limited in area and time.
• SURFONIC L-series surfactants and other linear alcohol ethoxylates pose no serious threat to the environment.
• They do not accumulate in any environmental compartment and are found, if at all, only at concentrations below chronic effects levels.
• Cleaning products containing SURFONIC L-series surfactants may be disposed of safely by flushing down the drain with water.

• SURFONIC® L24-5 surfactant may be satisfactorily stored in carbon steel tanks using steel pipes and pumps.
• Caution must be exercised, however, to keep the material in the anhydrous state to prevent severe corrosion to the carbon steel tank and related equipment.
• A drier on the breathing nozzle is recommended to help maintain anhydrous conditions in the storage tank.
• For longer term color stability, it is recommended that the product be stored under an inert atmosphere.
• Solid sediment may form upon standing.
• There should be circulation in the storage vessel to keep solids suspended.
• Low pressure steam coils in storage tanks and steam tracing of transfer lines should be provided in cases where low environmental temperatures may make pumping of the product difficult.