Mixed micelles of linear alkylbenzene sulfonic acid (LAS) and ether sulfate-based surfactants (SLEnS) can be added in household products and cleaning agents. SLEnS with higher ethylene oxide (EO) units in the head groups have economic and environmental advantages. This work aims to assess the influence of the number of EO units in the ecotoxicity of seven variants of SLEnS-LAS micelles (0-50 EO units) in soils. Ecotoxicological tests were carried out to assess emergence and growth of four plants species and reproduction of collembolans. Most of the variants inhibited plants growth at the highest concentrations (1237.5 μg SLEnS kg-1 of soildw). For reproduction, lower number of EO units resulted in EC50 from 924.2 (95 % CL: 760.7-1063.4) to 963.2 (95 % CL: 676.9-1249.6) μg SLEnS kg-1 of soildw, whereas for higher number of EO units (50 and 30) no inhibition was reported. Based on these results, we suggest that a higher number of EO units contribute to less hazardous formulations, confirming that different designs of surfactants may contribute to changes in the responses of terrestrial organisms. Therefore, we demonstrate that standardized ecotoxicological assays may contribute to more sustainable and effective formulations, when used upstream, prior to manufacture and marketing.
Keywords: Anionic surfactants; Ecotoxicity; Ethoxylation degree; Functionalization; Mixed micelles.
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