Fatty Alcohols

Stephen M Mudge is currently at Bangor University, UK. After nearly six years of investigating radionuclides in the environment at Lancaster University, Stephen Mudge moved to Bangor University and began work on lipid biomarkers in the environment. In the past 20 years he has investigated the sources and dispersal of many contaminants, especially sewage derived materials, in marine and terrestrial environments. In 2003 he started the world's first degree on Environmental Forensics that utilises many of the chemical and statistical approaches developed over the years of investigation. Fatty alcohols have formed part of these analyses and while these compounds may be frequently measured, they are rarely reported. Scott Belanger is a Research Fellow in The Procter & Gamble Company corporate environmental safety organization. His research spans a wide range of topics including understanding the effects of consumer product chemicals in the environment at the levels of the organism to the ecosystem. He has assisted in several efforts to assess the environmental risk of alcohols and alcohol-derived surfactants in recent years frequently working with trade associations, academic partnerships, and the regulatory community on these affairs. Allen Nielsen is a recently retired microbiologist from the Research and Development Department of Sasol North America, Inc. His main focus during his thirty-one year career has been the environmental safety of petrochemical -derived surfactants which are used in consumer and industrial applications. In recent years he was focused on the environmental safety of alcohols and alcohol-derived surfactants.

Executive Summary;

1 - Definitions;

Names and structures;

Physico-Chemical Properties;

Solubility vs. chain length;

Partitioning (Kow) and sediment associations;

Summary;

2 - Biological Synthesis;

Type I Fatty Acid Synthesis;

Unsaturated chains;

Type II Fatty Acid Synthase;

Unsaturated Compounds;

Branched chains;

Fatty Acid Degradation;

Fatty Acyl-CoA Reductase (FAR);

Synthesis from carbohydrates (Copepods);

Summary;

3 - Occurrence in Biota;

Bacteria;

Chlorophyll side chain (phytol);

Marine Plants;

Terrestrial Plant Waxes;

Mosses and other peat forming plants;

Marine animals;

Insects;

Birds;

Summary;

4 -Consumer and Cosmetic Product Uses and Production;

Introduction;

Detergent Alcohols Manufacture;

Oleochemical based alcohols;

Oleochemical Fatty Alcohols;

Petrochemical based alcohols;

Internal Olefins;

Conventional OXO Alcohols Based on Internal Olefins;

Alcohols based on Ethylene;

Ziegler Ethylene Growth Process;

Ziegler Alcohols;

Modified OXO Alcohols;

SHOP (Shell Higher Olefin Process) ?-Olefins;

SHOP Internal Olefins and Modified OXO Alcohols;

Summary;

Detergent Formulations;

5 - Environmental Transformations;

Metabolism of Fatty Alcohols;

Natural degradation;

Short chain moieties;

Long chain moieties;

Degradation Rate Constants;

Phytol degradation;

Effect of chemical associations on transformation rates;

"Natural" fatty alcohols in STPs;

Anthropogenic fatty alcohols in STPs;

Summary;

6 - Analytical methods;

Overview of Methods;

Methods for analysis of free fatty alcohols (and ethoxylates);

Environmental Samples;

Inter-laboratory comparisons;

Summary;

7 - Environmental Concentrations;

The Marine Environment;

Victoria Harbour, BC - Estuarine Surface Sediments;

ConcepcÝon Bay, Chile and San Vicente Bay, Chile;

Rio de Janeiro - surface sediments in a contaminated bay;

Ria Formosa lagoon - surface sediments;

Ria Formosa lagoon - suspended and settled sediments;

Ria Formosa lagoon - shallow core from intertidal sediments;

Eastern North Atlantic;

San Miguel Gap, California - long marine core;

Rio Grande Rise (516F of leg 72 ODP), Brazil;

Falkland Plateau (511 of leg 71 ODP), S. Atlantic;

Guatemalan Basin (Legs 66 & 67 ODP), Central America;

Continental slope, SW of Taiwan;

East China Sea, N of Taiwan;

The Terrestrial Environment;

Pasture land, Southern Australia;

Prairie Zone soils, Alberta, Canada;

UK Studies;

Conwy Estuary - Estuarine Core (50 cm);

Mawddach Estuary - surface sediments;

The Menai Strait - surface sediments;

Loch Riddon, Scotland - mid-length marine core;

Clyde Sea, Scotland - surface sediments;

Loe Pool, Cornwall - coastal lake;

Bolton Fell Moss, Cumbria - mire;

Lochnagar, Scotland - mountain lake;

Loch Eil, Scotland - a marine core and Loch Lochy, Scotland - a freshwater core;

Summary;

8 - Using Fatty Alcohols as Biomarkers;

Stable Isotopes;

13C Composition;

2H Composition;

Bacterial Biomass;

Marine Fauna;

Terrestrial Plants;

Photosynthetic Activity;

9 - Multivariate Statistics;

Chemometric methods of use with fatty alcohols;

PCA;

PLS;

10 - Environmental and Human Safety Aspects of Fatty Alcohols;

Physical Chemistry Relevant to Safety Assessments;

OECD SIAR;

Summary;

Physical-Chemical Overview from the OECD SIAR;

Conclusions for Characterizing the OECD Long Chain Alcohols Category;

Human Health and Risk;

Uses and Products;

Hazards for Human Health;

Exposure Characterization for Human Health;

Risk Characterization for Human Health;

Environmental Risk;

Pathways of Environmental Exposure;

Environmental Effects;

Measurements of Exposure for the Purpose of Environmental Risk Assessment;

Risk Characterization in the Environment;

Summary;

References;

11 - The Future for Fatty Alcohols.