Anaerobic Biodegradation of Detergent Surfactants

Materials

Ute Merrettig-Bruns¹ 

关键词: Detergent surfactant;    anaerobic biodegradation;    test systems.;   

DOI  :  10.3390/ma2010181

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

Detergent surfactants can be found in wastewater in relevant concentrations. Most of them are known as ready degradable under aerobic conditions, as required by European legislation. Far fewer surfactants have been tested so far for biodegradability under anaerobic conditions. The natural environment is predominantly aerobic, but there are some environmental compartments such as river sediments, sub-surface soil layer and anaerobic sludge digesters of wastewater treatment plants which have strictly anaerobic conditions. This review gives an overview on anaerobic biodegradation processes, the methods for testing anaerobic biodegradability, and the anaerobic biodegradability of different detergent surfactant types (anionic, nonionic, cationic, amphoteric surfactants).

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2009 by the authors; licensee Molecular Diversity Preservation International, Basel, Switzerland.