| Product Name | Sodium Lauryl Ether Sulfate |
| Synonyms | Sodium Laureth-7 Sulfate; Sodium Laureth-8 Sulfate; Sodium Laureth-5 Sulfate; Sodium lauryl ether sulphate; AES; Sodium Lauyl ether Sulphate; sodium 2-(2-dodecyloxyethoxy)ethyl sulphate; ; Diethylene glycol monolauryl ether sodium sulfate; PEG-(1-4) Lauryl ether sulfate, sodium salt; |
| Molecular Formula | C12H23NaO5S |
| Molecular Weight | 302.363 |
| CAS Registry Number | 68891-38-3 |
| Molecular Structure | |
| Product Application | widely used in personal care products such as detergents, skincare products, etc. Can be used as an emulsifier and stabilizer,This usage is particularly important in the production of industrial products such as coatings, adhesives, fiber treatment agents. |
Sodium Lauryl Ether Sulfate — also called Sodium Laureth Sulfate or simply AES — is the surfactant behind most shampoos, body washes, and dish liquids your team likely formulates or purchases. Its CAS number is 68891-38-3. At room temperature, it arrives as a clear to pale yellow liquid, fully miscible with water and stable under normal processing heat. If your product needs rich foam without the harshness of older sulfates, SLES is almost certainly on your bill of materials already.
The practical difference between SLES and its cheaper cousin SLS comes down to skin feel. SLS cleans aggressively but can trigger complaints in leave-on or frequent-use products. SLES goes through an ethoxylation step — typically adding 1 to 3 moles of ethylene oxide. That adjustment tones down the irritation significantly while keeping the dense, creamy lather consumers expect. For a procurement manager, this translates to fewer reformulation headaches and a surfactant that lets your marketing team claim mildness without reformulating the entire system.
Here is where purchasing gets tactical. A 1-mole SLES degreases harder and foams fast — ideal for industrial cleaners. A 2-mole or 3-mole grade handles hard water minerals much better and builds viscosity easily with plain salt. If your product ships to regions with calcium-heavy tap water, the higher EO grade reduces your dependence on costly chelating agents and extra thickeners. Ask your supplier for the EO homolog distribution, not just an average number. A broad distribution can mean inconsistent foam from batch to batch, and your quality team will notice before your customers do.
SLES paste — especially the 70% active version — gels below 15°C. Not freezes, gels. A tote left in an unheated receiving bay over a winter weekend turns into a pumping nightmare. The fix is simple: keep storage between 15°C and 40°C. On the hot side, sustained temperatures above 50°C trigger hydrolysis, breaking down the sulfate and dropping viscosity. A sun-exposed tank in a warm climate can cross that threshold by noon without insulation. These are not exotic problems, but they cause real production delays. When auditing a supplier, look at their tank farm temperature controls. It tells you whether they understand the material or just trade it.
The SLES market is shifting. Asia-Pacific demand drives global pricing, and ethylene oxide supply disruptions ripple through the chain quickly. Dual-qualifying a domestic and an Asian supplier gives you leverage when a regional shortage hits. Bio-based SLES — made from sugar cane ethanol rather than petrochemical EO — now carries a 10–20% premium. It only pays back if your retail channels demand it. For most volume lines, RSPO Mass Balance certified palm feedstock plus a tight 1,4-dioxane specification meets current requirements without destroying margins.
When comparing quotes, do not stop at price per ton. Factor in freight for heated transport, the energy cost of keeping tanks warm, and yield loss from heel material left in tankers. A supplier who delivers on-spec, with batch-level dioxane certificates and consistent viscosity, often costs less in total than a discount source that forces your production team to adjust parameters every shipment.
The right SLES purchase keeps your lines running, your foam panels scoring high, and your regulatory paperwork clean. That is the metric that matters.
