Distribution of surfactants along the estuarine area of Selangor River, Malaysia

This study aims to determine the levels of methylene blue active substances (MBAS) and ethyl violet active substances (EVAS) as anionic surfactants and of disulphine blue active substances (DBAS) as cationic surfactants in the surface microlayer (SML) around an estuarine area using colorimetric methods. The results show that the concentrations of surfactants around the estuarine area were dominated by anionic surfactants (MBAS and EVAS) with average concentrations of 0.39 and 0.51 μmol L−1, respectively. There were significant between-station differences in surfactant concentrations (p < 0.05) with higher concentrations found at the stations near the sea. The concentration of surfactants was higher during the rainy season than the dry season due to the influence of runoff water. Further investigation using total organic carbon (TOC) and total organic nitrogen (TON) shows that there is a significant correlation (p < 0.05) between both anionic and cationic surfactants and the TON concentration.