Appendix 17 of REACH imposes corresponding restrictions and regulations on the use, circulation and discharge of alkylphenol polyoxyethylene ether APEO. The restrictions on APEO in regulations usually refer to four items: NPEO nonylphenol polyoxyethylene ether, NP nonylphenol, OPEO octylphenol polyoxyethylene ether, and OP octylphenol. The limit is 1000ppm. If the APEO content in the product exceeds the limit, it will not be placed on the EU market.
APEO is the abbreviation of alkylphenol polyoxyethylene ether compounds and is a relatively conventional nonionic surfactant. It has excellent penetration, dispersion, emulsification, solubilization and other properties and is widely used in textile, leather, plastics, daily chemicals, papermaking and other industries.
APEO’s impact on the environment
The environmental impact assessment of APEO generally focuses on its acute toxicity, degradability to aquatic organisms, teratogenicity and carcinogenicity, skin irritation, environmental hormone issues, etc. The LD50 of NPEO in APEO shows that it is very toxic to fish, close to strong toxicity. At this point, although the direct toxicity to humans is very small, the toxicity accumulates in the first-level organisms and is eliminated in higher-level objects. Amplified to a higher order of magnitude, its toxicity to humans is indirect from the perspective of the entire food chain.
Because APEO’s hydrophobic carbon chain contains a benzene ring structure, its biodegradability is poor compared with anionic and other nonionic surfactants. For example, the initial biodegradability of NPEO9 is 4% to 80%, and the initial biodegradability of NPEO20 is 4%. % ~ 40%, while the EU requires that the initial degradation rate of environmentally friendly surfactants must be above 80%. In addition, NPEO in APEO may form NPs during the degradation process, which are highly toxic to fish, invertebrates, seaweeds, and microorganisms.
APEO itself is not teratogenic or carcinogenic, but the by-products of its synthesis may be carcinogenic. For example, 1,4-dioxane, the dimer product of ethylene oxide, one of the reactants, has been confirmed to be a carcinogen. Now this problem can be solved by controlling and selecting appropriate reaction equipment and controlling reaction conditions.
APEO’s environmental hormone problem has also attracted widespread attention. Environmental hormones refer to chemicals that can invade the human body through various channels, have effects similar to estrogen, and harm the body’s normal hormone secretion, leading to a reduction in male sperm count. . NP and OP have been included in the list of 70 environmental hormone chemicals by the US Environmental Protection Agency. Now there are studies and reports that NPEO also has hormonal effects similar to NP.
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