Selected anionic and cationic surface active agents: case study on the Kłodnica sediments

Abstract

Surface active agents (surfactants) are a group of chemical compounds, which are used as ingredients of detergents, cleaning products, cosmetics and functional products. After use, wastes containing surfactants or their degradation products are discharged to wastewater treatment plants or directly into surface waters. Due to their specific properties of SAAs, compounds are able to migrate between different environmental compartments such as soil, sediment, water or even living organisms and accumulate there. Surfactants can have a harmful effect on living organisms. They can connect with bioactive molecules and modify their function. Additionally, they have the ability to migrate into cells and cause their damage or death. For these reasons investigation of individual surfactants should be conducted. The presented research has been undertaken to obtain information about SAA contamination of sediment from the River Kłodnica catchment caused by selected anionic (linear alkylbenzene sulfonates (LAS C 10 -C 13 )) and cationic (alkylbenzyldimethylammonium (BDMA-C 12-16 ), alkyl trimethyl ammonium (DTMA), hexadecyl piridinium chloride (HP) chlorides) surfactants. This river flows through an area of the Upper Silesia Industrial Region where various companies and other institutions (e.g. coal mining, power plants, metallurgy, hospitals) are located. To determine their concentration the following analytical tools have been applied: accelerated solvent extraction-solid phase extraction -high performance liquid chromatography -UV-Vis (anionic SAAs) and conductivity (cationic SAAs) detectors. In all sediments anionic SAAs have been detected. The concentrations of HTMA and BDMA-C 16 in tested samples were higher than other cationic analytes. Generally, levels of surfactants with longer alkyl chains were higher and this observation can confirm their higher susceptibility to sorption on solid surfaces.

Chemical composition and water quality of some rivers of the sverdlovsk oblast (Ural, Russia)

“…On the anion field of the graph, the samples formed two clusters differing in the relative proportion of sulfate ions. In general, the presence of one cationic and two anionic trends should be interpreted as the source of the main ions' origin in the studied rivers is the leaching of calcium and magnesium carbonates from carbonate sediments: limestone, dolomite and anhydrite (Olkowska et al, 2017). It can be assumed that the role of anhydrites in the formation of the anionic composition of the Pozarishka, Iset, Pyshma and Tura rivers is higher.…”

“…Nitrites are the last part of the oxidation of organic nitrogen in the chain: ammonium -nitrite -nitrate. Therefore, the presence of nitrite should be interpreted as the incompleteness of the nitrogen oxidation processes as a result of oxygen deficiency (Olkowska et al, 2017;Leoni et al, 2018). Since the sampling was carried out in winter, when the rivers are covered with ice, the lack of oxygen is natural.…”

Surfactants: a real threat to the aquatic geoecosystems of lobelia lakes

“…This way pretreated waters are emitted to surface waters, where they undergo deposition in sediments or are assimilated by living organisms and accumulated in their tissues (Olkowska et al 2015). Scientists have voiced opinions according to which the very process of surfactant degradation can result in the formation of new, even more toxic compounds (Olkowska et al 2017). The widespread access to SAAs and the progressive anthropogenic pressures on aquatic geoecosystems pose a real risk of direct pollution of surface and ground waters with surfactants.…”

“…Studies investigating the presence of surfactants in the aquatic environment are mainly limited to those by Olkowska et al (2010Olkowska et al ( , 2011Olkowska et al ( , 2017. These are mainly methodological studies and only to a small extent reveal the impact of surfactants on the functioning of aquatic geoecosystems.…”