Adsorption effectiveness and adsorption efficiency of chosen surfactants

Abstract

Surfactants are various types of chemical compounds that are present in almost every aspect of our life. They are used in many branches of industry, especially in food, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals and even in confectionery. They are considered one of the best solutions for oil residues, soil bioremediation and dealing with PAHs contaminations. Their versatility comes from their amphiphilic build – one part of the compound has hydrophilic properties (head), the other has hydrophobic properties (tail). This fact causes surfactants affinity both to polar and nonpolar compounds. Some of the classical surfactants still can affect fauna and flora by accumulating in ground waters or simply by causing allergies. In that case, many companies decide to limit their surfactant usage and reach for substances present in nature which have very similar, if not better, properties. Biosurfactants are surface active agents produced mainly by microorganisms such as bacteria, fungi and yeasts. There are many papers related to different properties (CMC, aggregation number, surface excess concentration) of various types of surfactants. However, it is difficult to find papers describing the same properties for different surfactants. In this study, adsorption effectiveness and adsorption efficiency at the water-air interface of chosen surfactants: sodium dodecylsulfate (SDDS), cationic: cetyltrimetylammonium bromide (CTAB), nonionic: Triton X-100 (TX-100) and biosurfactants: surfactin (SF) and monorhamnolipid (RL)  has been compared. Both efficiency and effectivenes decide about the practical surfactants application.