Lee, Seockheon Kweon, Ji Hyang Kim, Han S. 2024-01-20T11:03:35Z 2024-01-20T11:03:35Z 2022-01-25 2013-11 0964-8305 https://pubs.kist.re.kr/handle/201004/127460 Surfactants have received increasing interest as potential agents for the enhanced remediation of soils and groundwater contaminated with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). However, the fate of surfactants with respect to biological transformations and associated changes in their characteristics has not been addressed clearly. Thus, the biodegradation of ethoxylated sorbitan fatty ester non-ionic surfactants, referred to as Tween surfactants, was investigated in this study. The PAH-degrading soil microbes partially utilized the surfactant as a carbon source (26.9-32.7% of initial dose). The characterization of biodegraded surfactants revealed that the partial biodegradation occurred selectively on the hydrophobes of surfactants, resulting in an imbalance of amphiphilic moieties of surfactants. Consequently, the critical micelle concentration values increased by 61.9-88.0% and the micellar solubilization ratio values decreased by 66.5-84.3% after the surfactant biodegradation. These observations supported our conclusion that the partial and selective microbial degradation of surfactants can result in a significant reduction of surface-active and micellar solubilization capacities of surfactants. The findings of this study are expected to provide important implications for the application of surfactant-mediated remediation processes for PAHs. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. English Elsevier BV Selective biodegradation of sorbitan ethoxylated surfactants by soil microorganisms Article 10.1016/j.ibiod.2013.03.020 1 International Biodeterioration & Biodegradation, v.85, pp.652 - 660 International Biodeterioration & Biodegradation 85 652 660 N scie scopus 000327166300093 2-s2.0-84886242061 Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology Environmental Sciences Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology Environmental Sciences & Ecology Article HYDROPHOBIC ORGANIC-COMPOUNDS NONIONIC SURFACTANTS CONTAMINATED SOIL PAHS BIOAVAILABILITY BIOREMEDIATION PHENANTHRENE DEGRADATION REMEDIATION SYSTEMS Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons Remediation Tween surfactant Partial and selective biodegradation Surface-active capacity Micellar solubilization capacity