Surfactant leaching is a method of water and soil decontamination, [1] [2] e.g., for oil recovery in petroleum industry. [3] [2] It involves mixing of contaminated water or soil with surfactants with the subsequent leaching of emulsified contaminants. [1] [3] In oil recovery, most common surfactant types are ethoxylated alcohols, ethoxylated nonylphenols, sulphates, sulphonates, and biosurfactants. [3]
References
- ^ a b Environmental Biotechnology: Principles and Applications, p. 272
- ^ a b Knudsen O. Ø., P.J. Brandvik, A. Lewis, "Treating oil spills with W/O emulsion inhibitors: A laboratory study of surfactant leaching from the oil to the water phase", in: Proceedings of the Seventeenth Arctic and Marine Oilspill Program Technical Seminar, 1994, pp. 1023-1034
- ^ a b c Hydrocarbon Contaminated Soils, Volume 3, pp. 15,16