SURFACTANTS AND COMPLEXING AGENTS - NEW TASKS FOR SPECIMEN BANKING

Surfactants and complexing agents are chemical products that are relea sed into the environment in large amounts after being used in cleaning processes, mineral flotation, pesticide formulations, etc. Although t hese compounds are largely degraded during sewage treatment in industr ialized countries, significant amounts will be found in sediments or s ewage sludges. Furthermore, large concentrations of these compounds ca n be found in small rivers and brooks in the vicinity of outfalls of s ewage treatment plants. Since these compounds can be expected to alter the organic matrix of the soil (surfactants) or to remobilize heavy m etals from soils or sediments (complexing agents), their occurrence in the environment and their effects have to be investigated to estimate their long-term risk potential. This could be a new task for specimen banking. To this end, (a) sensitive and specific detection methods fo r surfactants and complexing agents have to be developed at concentrat ions relevant to environmental occurrence, and (b) the effect of surfa ctants and complexing agents on the distribution of organic and inorga nic pollutants in environmental compartments has to be investigated. P reliminary investigations show significant synergistic or antagonistic effects of various surfactants on the adsorption of pollutants at cla y minerals.