Acute aquatic toxicity of nine alcohol ethoxylate surfactants to fathead minnow and Daphnia magna
- Shell Development Co., Houston, TX (United States)
The aquatic toxicity of nine commercial-grade alcohol ethoxylate surfactants was studied in acute exposures to fathead minnow (Pimephales promelas) and Daphnia magna. All studies were conducted in accordance with USEPA TSCA Good Laboratory Practice Standards. Mean measured surfactant concentrations in exposure solutions showed good agreement with nominal concentrations for both fathead minnow and daphnid tests. Surfactant recoveries ranged from 59 to 97% and 67 to 106% in the fathead minnow and daphnid solutions, respectively. The response of both species to the surfactants was generally similar with the daphnids being slightly more sensitive to a few surfactants. Surfactant toxicity tended to increase with increasing alkyl chain lengths. The effect of low average EO groups on increased surfactant toxicity was more evident in the daphnid exposures. Quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) models were developed form the data which relates surfactant structure to toxicity. The models predict increasing toxicity with decreasing EO number and increasing alkyl chain length. The models also indicate that alkyl chain length has a greater effect on toxicity than EO groups. Further, the models indicate that both species did not differ markedly in their sensitivity to alkyl chain length effects, while the number of EO groups had a stronger effect on daphnids than fathead minnow. Good agreement was found between QSAR model-predicted toxicity and reported toxicity values from the literature for several surfactants previously studied.
- OSTI ID:
- 458359
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-961149--
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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