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Anionic surfactant linear alkylbenzene sulfonates (LAS) in sediments from the Gulf of Gdańsk (southern Baltic Sea, Poland) and its environmental implications

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Abstract

Linear alkylbenzene sulfonate (LAS) is a group of anionic surfactants employed in the formulation of laundry and cleaning products, with a global production rate of 4 million metric tons. Sediments from the Polish coast of the southern Baltic Sea were collected at ten stations. Total LAS concentrations, measured by high-performance liquid chromatography, were between 0.04 and 0.72 mg LAS·kg−1 dry weight. Highest LAS concentrations were found in suspended matter collected from the Vistula River, sediment collected close to the Vistula River mouth and from the Gdańsk Deep, known as the depositional area. With the obtained environmental LAS concentrations, a risk assessment for this surfactant has been carried out, based on publicly available acute and chronic toxicity data in target organisms. The results indicated that LAS could pose a low risk for the existing benthic community applying worst case scenario assessment. This is the first time that levels of LAS have been measured in environmental samples of the southern Baltic Sea.

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Author notes

  1. Miriam Hampel

    Present address: Andalusian Institute for Marine Sciences (ICMAN-CSIC), Campus Universitario Río San Pedro s/n, 11519, Puerto Real, Spain

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Andalusian Institute for Marine Sciences (ICMAN-CSIC), Campus Universitario Río San Pedro s/n, 11519, Puerto Real, Spain

    Julian Blasco

  2. Department for Environment, Microbiology and Phycotoxines, IFREMER, 29280, Plouzane, France

    Aourell Mauffret

  3. Institute of Oceanology, Polish Academy of Sciences (IO PAS), Sopot, Poland

    Ksenia Pazdro

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  1. Miriam Hampel
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  2. Aourell Mauffret
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Correspondence to Miriam Hampel.

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Hampel, M., Mauffret, A., Pazdro, K. et al. Anionic surfactant linear alkylbenzene sulfonates (LAS) in sediments from the Gulf of Gdańsk (southern Baltic Sea, Poland) and its environmental implications. Environ Monit Assess 184, 6013–6023 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-011-2399-6

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