Alkyl sulfates wastewater treatment

Desulfonation of LAS under sulfate limiting conditions appears to proceed fastest for shorter alkyl chain lengths and faster for isomers in which the benzenesulfonate moiety is attached to a central position on the alkyl chain (Kertesz et al., 1994). Since in wastewater treatment sulfate is not limiting, this reaction is not relevant in the perspective of the fate of the bulk of LAS. However, the reaction shows that the trend of increasing rate of G)-p-oxidation with increasing alkyl chain length is an exception, not the rule. 

Popenoe, D. D., Morris, S. J., Horn, P. S., and Norwood, K. T., Determination of alkyl sulfates and alkyl ethoxysulfates in wastewater treatment plant influents and effluents and in river water using liquid chromatography/ion spray mass spectrometry. Anal. Chem., 66, 1620-1629, 1994. 

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