title: Surfactants in aquatic and terrestrial environment: occurrence, behavior, and treatment processes.
abstract: Surfactants belong to a group of chemicals that are well known for their cleaning properties. Their excessive use as ingredients in care products (e.g., shampoos, body wash) and in household cleaning products (e.g., dishwashing detergents, laundry detergents, hard-surface cleaners) has led to the discharge of highly contaminated wastewaters in aquatic and terrestrial environment. Once reached in the different environmental compartments (rivers, lakes, soils, and sediments), surfactants can undergo aerobic or anaerobic degradation. The most studied surfactants so far are linear alkylbenzene sulfonate (LAS), quaternary ammonium compounds (QACs), alkylphenol ethoxylate (APEOs), and alcohol ethoxylate (AEOs). Concentrations of surfactants in wastewaters can range between few micrograms to hundreds of milligrams in some cases, while it reaches several grams in sludge used for soil amendments in agricultural areas. Above the legislation standards, surfactants can be toxic to aquatic and terrestrial organisms which make treatment processes necessary before their discharge into the environment. Given this fact, biological and chemical processes should be considered for better surfactants removal. In this review, we investigate several issues with regard to: (1) the toxicity of surfactants in the environment, (2) their behavior in different ecological systems, (3) and the different treatment processes used in wastewater treatment plants in order to reduce the effects of surfactants on living organisms.
authors.affiliation: Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS-Eau Terre et Environnement), Université du Québec, 490 rue de la Couronne, Québec, Qc, G1K 9A9, Canada. karamajardak@yahoo.fr.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Jardak
authors.affiliation: Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS-Eau Terre et Environnement), Université du Québec, 490 rue de la Couronne, Québec, Qc, G1K 9A9, Canada. patrick.drogui@ete.inrs.ca.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Drogui
authors.affiliation: Researcher in Water Technology Center, 696 avenue Sainte-Croix, Montréal, Québec, H4L 3Y2, Canada. rdaghrir@cteau.com.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Daghrir
mesh_terms: D017738:Alkanesulfonic Acids / Q000633:toxicity; D000818:Animals; D003902:Detergents / Q000633:toxicity; D017753:Ecosystem; D006801:Humans; D000644:Quaternary Ammonium Compounds / Q000633:toxicity; D045483:Rivers; D012987:Soil; D013501:Surface-Active Agents / Q000633:toxicity*; D062065:Wastewater / Q000737:chemistry*; D018508:Water Purification
chemical_list: D017738:Alkanesulfonic Acids; D003902:Detergents; D000644:Quaternary Ammonium Compounds; D012987:Soil; D013501:Surface-Active Agents; D062065:Wastewater; C030641:alkylbenzyl sulfonic acid
keywords: Contamination; Future trends; Surfactants; Toxicity; Treatments