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CAS REGISTRY NUMBER 68131-32-8
(SPENT SULFITE LIQUOR)
DUSTAC® Road
PRODUCT INFORMATION SHEET
TOXICOLOGY INFORMATION
Because of increasing concerns about the environmental impact of the use of chemicals in general, it is necessary to address those concerns as they relate to the use of DUSTAC® Road Binder for dust abatement. Of particular interest is the presence of dioxins and chlorinated compounds in chemicals. Within the pulp industry, these toxins are generally associated with the kraft pulping process, and more specifically with the bleaching sequence of the pulp fibers. DUSTAC® lignin products are co-products of the ammonium or calcium bisulfite pulping process. In this process, the spent sulfite liquor (SSL), as it is known prior to modification, is separated from the cellulose fibers prior to bleaching of the pulp; therefore, because of this separation of streams, there would be no reason to expect the presence of dioxins or chlorinated compounds in the product. (It is important to note that SSL should not be confused with "black liquor," the product that results from the kraft process.) After separation, the SSL is filtered and steam-stripped and then fermented with yeast to convert the fermentable hexose sugars to ethyl alcohol, which is then removed by distillation. The removal of the fermentable hexose sugars from our product reduces the biochemical oxygen demand load by 50%. The remaining highly pure lignosulfonates undergo further modification to bring the product to neutral pH prior to shipping.
We have had DUSTAC® Road Binder analyzed for dioxin (2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin) and furan (2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzofuran), and these toxins were not detected at a detection limit of less than three parts per trillion (three parts per trillion is comparable to three seconds in 32,000 years). Chlorinated compounds have not been detected in DUSTAC® products.
The LC50 of DUSTAC® Road Binder is 4250 mg/1 for juvenile rainbow trout as determined by a 96-hour static bioassay. The LD50 is 28.5 grams solids per kilogram in rats and is therefore "not toxic" by FHSA definition. This product is not a skin or eye irritant by FHSA definition and is not listed as a carcinogen by IARC, NTP, OSHA or ACGIH. For additional information see the Regulatory Information and Toxicity Data sheet. DUSTAC® Road Binder has been approved by the U. S. Forest Service for use on roads for dust abatement. It has been safely and successfully used for this purpose for well over forty years. Unlike petroleum products or chemical salts, it preserves roadside vegetation without leaching of petroleum derivatives or heavy metals into surrounding soils, plus it exhibits an extremely low rate of corrosivity. As with any other benign chemical, safe handling and common sense will insure an environmentally safe application.