Sodium Lauryl Ether Sulphate
Safety data sheet in the 16-section GHS format · CAS Not available
| Product name | Sodium Lauryl Ether Sulphate |
|---|---|
| Synonyms | SLES 70, SLES chemical, sodium laureth sulfate, SLES 28 |
| C.A.S. number | No single CAS - SLES is an ethoxylate and chain-length distribution (a mixture/UVCB), so the CAS quoted is representative. Those in commercial use are: 68891-38-3, sodium C12-14 alkyl ether sulfate, EC 500-234-8 (the identity used by EU producers); 9004-82-4, the generic sodium laureth sulfate / poly(oxyethylene) lauryl ether sulfate sodium salt; and 68585-34-2, sodium C10-16 alkyl ether sulfate. Declare the product as a mixture and mark the CAS as representative - do not publish any one of these as the definitive CAS of the product. |
| Molecular formula | CH3(CH2)11(OCH2CH2)nOSO3Na, with n approximately 2-3 ('2 EO' or '3 EO' grades) - no single molecular formula |
| Grade supplied | 70% / 28% active |
| Product group | Surfactants & Oleochemicals |
| Identified uses | Shampoo & body wash, Dishwash liquid, Liquid detergent, Toothpaste, Industrial cleaners, Textile auxiliaries |
| Supplier | Velora Chemicals Private Limited |
| Emergency contact | Medical, fire or spill emergency — call the emergency services first: 112 (all-India), 101 fire, 108 ambulance. Velora Chemicals Private Limited does not at present operate a 24-hour chemical emergency advice line, and this sheet does not pretend otherwise. Every consignment despatched by road carries an emergency information panel under rule 134 of the Central Motor Vehicles Rules 1989 bearing a number from which expert advice on this material can be obtained, and the producer’s safety data sheet issued with the consignment carries the producer’s own 24-hour number where one is operated. For product, grade and documentation queries in business hours: +91 99255 22674. |
| GHS signal word | Danger for the 70% paste as classified by a European producer (Interchimie); Warning where a supplier classifies the same material only as an irritant (Chemos, Thames River Chemical). Use your own product's classification - see the hazards field. |
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| Hazard classification | 70% active: Skin Irrit. 2 - H315; Eye Dam. 1 - H318; Aquatic Chronic 3 - H412 (Interchimie, CLP). Other producer SDS classify the same material less severely: Skin Irrit. 2 (H315) plus Eye Irrit. 2 (H319), signal word Warning (Chemos); or Eye Irrit. 2A plus Skin Irrit. 2 plus Aquatic Acute 2 H401 (Thames River Chemical). All of these are supplier self-classification - there is NO EU harmonised CLP Annex VI entry for SLES, which is why suppliers legitimately differ, chiefly on whether the eye endpoint is Eye Dam. 1 or Eye Irrit. 2. For the 28% active grade: Not available - the eye endpoint is normally one category lower because of dilution, but this could not be confirmed from an authoritative 28% SDS, so do not publish a 28% classification without your own supplier's. |
| Substance | Sodium Lauryl Ether Sulphate |
|---|---|
| C.A.S. number | No single CAS - SLES is an ethoxylate and chain-length distribution (a mixture/UVCB), so the CAS quoted is representative. Those in commercial use are: 68891-38-3, sodium C12-14 alkyl ether sulfate, EC 500-234-8 (the identity used by EU producers); 9004-82-4, the generic sodium laureth sulfate / poly(oxyethylene) lauryl ether sulfate sodium salt; and 68585-34-2, sodium C10-16 alkyl ether sulfate. Declare the product as a mixture and mark the CAS as representative - do not publish any one of these as the definitive CAS of the product. |
| Molecular weight | Not available (ethoxylate distribution - there is no single molecular weight) |
| Composition | 70% / 28% active |
| Eye contact | Rinse cautiously with plenty of lukewarm, gently flowing water for at least 15 minutes, holding the eyelids apart; remove contact lenses if present and easy to do, then continue rinsing. Call a physician immediately - the 70% grade can cause serious eye damage. |
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| Skin contact | Rinse or wash the affected skin with lukewarm, gently flowing water and mild soap for at least 5 minutes, removing contaminated clothing. Get medical advice if irritation develops or persists; repeated or prolonged contact defats the skin. |
| Inhalation | Move the person to fresh air. Inhalation is not a normal route of exposure for this product; if respiratory symptoms develop, contact a poison centre or a doctor. |
| Ingestion | Rinse the mouth with water. Do NOT induce vomiting - the product foams heavily and there is an aspiration risk. Do not give large volumes of liquid. Contact a poison centre or doctor. |
| Flash point | Not flammable. Producer SDS give 'greater than 100 degC' or 'no data available' - the product is an aqueous surfactant, not a flammable liquid. |
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| Suitable extinguishing media | Water spray or fog, dry chemical powder, carbon dioxide, or alcohol-resistant foam. The product is a surfactant and will collapse an ordinary protein or AFFF blanket, so specify the alcohol-resistant type. Cool fire-exposed drums with water spray. Confirm the medium against the producer’s safety data sheet for the grade supplied. |
| Unsuitable extinguishing media | Do not use a water jet — it spreads the product and the fire. Do not rely on ordinary protein or AFFF foam, which the product destroys. |
| Special hazards arising from the substance | This is a paste of roughly 70% active matter in water, not a dry solid. It is combustible — it will burn, but it does not ignite readily, because the water has to be driven off first; it is not an inert material and it does contribute fuel. Drums and totes may over-pressure, froth violently and burst when heated as the water boils. Combustion gives carbon oxides and sulfur dioxide and other oxides of sulfur, which are the controlling inhalation hazard. Dried-out residue — films in tanks and pipework, or sweepings — behaves as a combustible solid and should be treated as one. Packaging and pallets are themselves a substantial fire load. |
| Advice for fire-fighters | Fire-fighters must wear self-contained breathing apparatus and full protective clothing. Keep unnecessary personnel away and upwind. Cool heated drums and totes from a protected position; a sealed container of heated paste can burst. Contain the firewater. Surfactant-laden run-off foams up through drains, is acutely toxic to fish and will upset a sewage works. Prevent firefighting run-off from entering drains, surface water or groundwater. |
Keep unnecessary personnel away and upwind, and ventilate. Wear the protective equipment in section 8, including respiratory protection, before approaching. Eliminate ignition sources and prohibit smoking before approaching. Avoid raising dust, and never blow a spilled powder down with compressed air. Dry-collect — vacuum with a HEPA-filtered unit, or sweep gently without raising dust — into labelled, closable containers for disposal under section 13. A spill inside a vessel, tank, silo, container or pit is a confined-space job: test the atmosphere and work under permit. A fine powder makes a floor slippery, especially once wet, so treat every wetted surface as slippery until it has been washed and dried. Prevent entry to drains, surface water and groundwater. Do not return spilled material to the original container; a damaged bag should be overpacked into a labelled outer rather than decanted into an unmarked one.
• SLES 70 is a thick paste, not a liquid, and it thickens further in cold weather. It needs warming and proper agitation to dissolve. Plants that try to dilute it cold end up with lumps that never fully disperse.
• Warm the whole drum evenly to 40–55 °C and no higher than about 60 °C, and do not hold it hot for long. SLES hydrolyses back towards fatty alcohol and sodium sulphate with heat, discolouring and developing odour as it goes. Drum and immersion heaters create local hot spots well above the bulk temperature — that is how drums get cooked.
• Diluting 70% to a working strength passes through a viscosity peak — the mixture gets dramatically thicker part-way before thinning again. Add water gradually with good agitation and do not panic when it stiffens.
• Store away from extremes of heat and cold. Not a dangerous good for transport in the usual commercial forms.
Storage: Store at 10-30 degC in a well ventilated place out of direct sunlight, in HDPE or lined containers only - avoid corrodible metals. Protect from frost (the paste gels and becomes unpumpable when cold) and from temperatures above about 35-40 degC (promotes hydrolysis and discolouration). Keep containers closed; recirculate or agitate before use, as the paste can separate on standing. Segregate from acids.
Engineering controls. Enclose every transfer, tipping, bag-slitting and sampling point and fit local exhaust extraction at each, and keep airborne concentrations below the limit in force at the place of use. Provide an eyewash within reach of the working position, and a safety shower wherever the material is classified corrosive or irritant or is handled in quantity. Do not eat, drink or smoke in the handling area; wash before breaks. Where no limit is stated above, occupational exposure limits vary by jurisdiction: check the limit in force at the place of use and the producer’s sheet for the grade supplied, and record which value your assessment adopted. Select eye, skin and respiratory protection on the strength of a measured or modelled exposure assessment, not on this sheet alone.
| Appearance | 70% active: colourless to pale-yellow viscous paste or gel with a faint soapy odour; producer SDS describe it as a transparent to yellow semi-solid paste. 28% active: Not available from an authoritative source - trade literature describes it as a clear to slightly hazy mobile liquid, which should be confirmed against your own COA before publishing. |
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| Physical state | 70% active: viscous paste/gel, semi-solid at ambient temperature and pourable when warmed. 28% active: liquid. |
| Melting / freezing point | 70% active: pour/melting point below 5 degC (Interchimie) to 10-15 degC (Thames River Chemical). 28% active: Not available. |
| Boiling point | Above 100 degC (Interchimie); 100 degC reported by Thames River Chemical - effectively the boiling point of the water carrier. The surfactant itself decomposes rather than boiling, so there is no true boiling point. |
| Relative density | 70% active: about 1.1 g/cm3 at 20 degC (Interchimie); 1.03 reported by Thames River Chemical. 28% active: Not available. |
| Solubility in water | Completely soluble/miscible in water (dilution of the 70% paste is slow and viscosity peaks at intermediate concentrations - add paste to water with good agitation) |
| pH | 70% active: 6.5-9.5 measured on a 10% aqueous solution at 20 degC (Interchimie); 7.5 measured at 100 g/L (Thames River Chemical). The raw substance is quoted at 7.5-10 on a 1 wt% solution at 20 degC (Chemos). 28% active: Not available - take it from your own COA. Always print the dilution with the number. |
| Flash point | Not flammable. Producer SDS give 'greater than 100 degC' or 'no data available' - the product is an aqueous surfactant, not a flammable liquid. |
| Auto-ignition / ignition temperature | Not available |
| Explosive / dust-explosion properties | Not available |
| Vapour pressure | Not available |
| Vapour density | Not available |
| Partition coefficient (log Pow) | Not available |
| Particle characteristics | Not available |
| Molecular weight | Not available (ethoxylate distribution - there is no single molecular weight) |
| Incompatible materials | Strong acids - these hydrolyse the sulphate ester, liberating the fatty alcohol and sulphuric acid, which destroys the product and corrodes the vessel; strong bases; strong oxidising and reducing agents; cationic surfactants and cationic polymers (incompatible - forms an insoluble complex/precipitate); and corrodible bare metals - store in plastic or lined vessels only. |
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| Conditions to avoid | Store at 10-30 degC in a well ventilated place out of direct sunlight, in HDPE or lined containers only - avoid corrodible metals. Protect from frost (the paste gels and becomes unpumpable when cold) and from temperatures above about 35-40 degC (promotes hydrolysis and discolouration). Keep containers closed; recirculate or agitate before use, as the paste can separate on standing. Segregate from acids. |
The health hazards classified for this substance are listed in section 2, and the corresponding first-aid measures in section 4. Numerical toxicological endpoints are not reproduced here: refer to the producer's safety data sheet for the grade supplied, and to the ECHA and PubChem entries for the substance.
Where section 2 or section 14 classifies this substance as hazardous to the aquatic environment, prevent any release to drains, surface water or groundwater and treat aqueous effluent before discharge. Otherwise, refer to the producer's sheet.
Dispose of the substance and its container through an authorised facility under the Hazardous and Other Wastes (Management and Transboundary Movement) Rules, 2016 where the waste is scheduled under those Rules, and otherwise as non-hazardous industrial waste, in each case under the conditions of the State Pollution Control Board consent in force at the site. Whether a particular waste stream is scheduled depends on the substance and on what it has been mixed with, so classify the waste before consigning it. Do not reuse empty containers for any other purpose.
| UN number | Not regulated for transport |
|---|---|
| Class | Not applicable - not a dangerous good under ADR, IMDG, IATA, US DOT or Transport Canada (Interchimie, Chemos and Thames River Chemical SDS all state this) |
| Packing group | Not applicable |
| Proper shipping name | Not applicable - not a dangerous good |
Supply in India is subject to the Manufacture, Storage and Import of Hazardous Chemical Rules, 1989 where the substance is scheduled, and to any product-specific licensing named on the product page. Classification and labelling follow the GHS as adopted in the jurisdiction of use.
Note: Four things readers get wrong here. First, SLES is a mixture, so CAS, formula and molecular weight are all representative or unavailable, not exact. Second, SLES is NOT the same product as SLS: sodium lauryl sulphate (sodium dodecyl sulphate), CAS 151-21-3, has no ethoxylate chain, a different CAS and a harsher irritancy profile - several datasheets found during this research had the two mixed up, and any SDS for '28% SLES' should be checked for exactly this substitution. Third, 28% and 70% are active-matter percentages of the same surfactant: 28% grade is essentially diluted 70% grade, so on an active basis about 2.5 kg of 28% equals 1 kg of 70%, and pricing or dosing on a kilogram-of-product basis will be wrong by that factor. Fourth, ethoxylated sulphates can carry trace 1,4-dioxane, a process by-product; personal-care and export customers may specify a limit for it, and it is not covered by the active-matter assay. The pH figure must always be published with its dilution - quoting a bare '7.5' invites misuse.
| Version | 1.0 |
|---|---|
| Date of issue | 07 October 2026 |
| Supersedes | No previous version |
| Regulatory basis as at the date of issue | EU CLP Regulation 1272/2008 as amended, including Annex VI harmonised classifications; UN Model Regulations and the IMDG Code Amendment 42-24, mandatory from 1 January 2026; ADR 2025; and, in India, the Manufacture, Storage and Import of Hazardous Chemical Rules 1989 and the Central Motor Vehicles Rules 1989. |
Sources consulted: https://www.interchimie.fr/wp-content/uploads/LAURYL-ETHER-SULFATE-DE-SODIUM-70_5.0_EN.pdf; https://www.trc-corp.com/wp-content/uploads/SDS/Sodium%20Lauryl%20Ether%20Sulfate%2070%20Percent%20(SLES%2070%20Percent)%20-%20SDS%20English.pdf; https://www.chemos.de/import/data/msds/GB_en/9004-82-4-A0047350-GB-en.pdf; https://www.lobachemie.com/lab-chemical-msds/MSDS-SODIUM-LAURYL-ETHER-SULFATE-SLES-CASNO-9004-82-05924-EN.aspx
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