Distribution of surfactants along the estuarine area of Selangor River, Malaysia

Alsalahi MA 1 , Latif MT 2 , Ali MM 1 , Magam SM 3 , Wahid NB 4 , Khan MF 1 Show all authors , Suratman S 5

Affiliations 

  • 1 School of Environmental and Natural Resource Sciences, Faculty of Science and Technology, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600 Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia
  • 2 School of Environmental and Natural Resource Sciences, Faculty of Science and Technology, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600 Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia. Electronic address: talib@ukm.my
  • 3 Department of Environmental Science, Faculty of Environmental Studies, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia
  • 4 School of Environmental and Natural Resource Sciences, Faculty of Science and Technology, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600 Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia; Department of Biology, Faculty of Science and Mathematics, Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris, 35900 Tanjung Malim, Perak, Malaysia
  • 5 School of Marine Science and Environment, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, 21030 Kuala Terengganu, Terengganu, Malaysia; Institute of Oceanography and Environment, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, 21030 Kuala Terengganu, Terengganu, Malaysia
Mar Pollut Bull, 2014 Mar 15;80(1-2):344-50.
PMID: 24373668 DOI: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2013.12.019

Abstract

This study aims to determine the levels of methylene blue active substances (MBAS) and ethyl violet active substances (EVAS) as anionic surfactants and of disulphine blue active substances (DBAS) as cationic surfactants in the surface microlayer (SML) around an estuarine area using colorimetric methods. The results show that the concentrations of surfactants around the estuarine area were dominated by anionic surfactants (MBAS and EVAS) with average concentrations of 0.39 and 0.51 μmol L⁻¹, respectively. There were significant between-station differences in surfactant concentrations (p<0.05) with higher concentrations found at the stations near the sea. The concentration of surfactants was higher during the rainy season than the dry season due to the influence of runoff water. Further investigation using total organic carbon (TOC) and total organic nitrogen (TON) shows that there is a significant correlation (p<0.05) between both anionic and cationic surfactants and the TON concentration.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

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