Surfactants have an excellent health and environmental profile. Almost all commercial surfactant types have oral toxicity on a par with naturally occurring compounds like table salt. Many surfactants are either naturally occurring or made by simple modifications of natural compounds. The human body contains many surfactants. The best known are the phospholipids that make up the cell membrane. These are essentially low water solubility anionic surfactants. Our lungs produce natural surfactants that make it easier for our lungs to expand and bring in air. Loss of lung surfactant leads to a disease known as sudden adult respiratory distress syndrome.

While our surfactant short course provides a comprehensive introduction to all aspects of surfactant health and environmental factors, as well as a wealth of recommended readings, these papers and PowerPoint presentations illustrate the use of surfactants in the remediation of ground water that has been contaminated by liquid fuels or industrial solvents. If you saw John Travolta in the movie “Civil Action” or Julie Roberts in Erin Brockovich, then you are familiar with the problem of ground water contamination.  Here is how we use surfactants to remediate ground water contamination. That’s right, we inject surfactants into ground water in order to make it safer!

The big exception to the generally benign nature of surfactants is their aquatic toxicity. Very low concentrations of surfactants in surface water can be highly toxic to all forms of aquatic life, from insects to fish, reptiles and amphibians. Consequently, a major environmental consideration in the introduction of any new surfactant molecule is determining whether it is sufficiently biodegradable to loose its surface activity before being emitted from municipal or industrial waste treatment plants. Even ppm concentrations of non-degraded surfactants can kill wide ranges of aquatic organisms.