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VOL. 11, ISSUE 1 (2026)
Enrichment of surfactants in the surface microlayer of the Yamuna river water at Agra U.P. (India)
Authors
Ravi Prakash, R B Singh
Abstract
Sodium dodecylsulfate (SDS), sodium dodecyl
benzene sulphonate (SDBS), sodium dodecyl ethoxy sulfate (SDES), dodecyl
hexaethoxylate (DHE), isooctylphenoxy-hexaethoxyethanol (trade name Criton
X-100 or CTX), n-cetyl trimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) and ditallow dimethyl
ammonium chloride (DTDMAC) were measured in surface microlayer (SML) and
subsurface (30-40 cm deep) water samples collected from 5 glass tanks (1x1x1.5
m²) and 5 dhobi Ghats (within 10 m of the bank) at the Yamuna banks in Agra,
U.P.(INDIA) using 1 x 0.5 m² polythene screen. In surface samples, SDBS and
CTX were found to be significantly enriched but the enrichments for SDS and
CTAB were smaller and in the case of DHE almost negligible. An interesting
result was the large decrease of DHE compared with CTX in the surface sample.
This is due to the fact that the greatest extent of DHE gets dissolved after
being hydrolysed. Both CTAB and DTDMAC were almost equally enriched in the
surface films. The high enrichment of SDBS and CTX may be attributed to their
greater stability due to the presence of benzene ring in their molecules. The
enrichment of SDES was intermediate between SDS and SDBS. SDS is over 10 times
more biodegradable than SDBS, so though the lightest SDS was less enriched than
SDES. CTAB is more enriched than DTDMAC because CTAB molecules are lighter.
Although there was no relationship between the surface excesses of SDS and DHE,
there was a strong correlation between SDS and CTAB, SDBS and CTX, SDES and
DTDMAC concentrations, and between surface film pressure and SDS concentrations
(r =0.84). There is less satisfactory correlation between surface pressure and
DTDMAC concentrations (r=0.31). The dominance of SDBS and CTX in the surface
film is one of the significant findings of this investigation.
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Pages:77-79
How to cite this article:
Ravi Prakash, R B Singh "Enrichment of surfactants in the surface microlayer of the Yamuna river water at Agra U.P. (India) ". International Journal of Advanced Scientific Research, Vol 11, Issue 1, 2026, Pages 77-79
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