A Study on the Biodegradation of Synthetic Detergents of Major Streams in Seoul

서울시내 주요지천수중 합성세제의 분해도에 관한 연구

Since the production of synthetic detergents in 1966, the demand of detergents increased rapidly during the past in Korea. Its production which was solely for donlestic consumption leaped from 402 tons in 1966 to 259387 tons in 1989. Practically all of these products were the anionic detergents primarily sodium salts of Alkyl Benzene Sulfonate(ABS). ABS persists for long periods in stream because of its resistance to triodegradation. Therefore synthetic detergents have been considered major contributors to water pollution. The detergents give a raise to be noted is foaming at sewage treatment plant and the drinking water contaminated by detergents have often been accompanying taste and odor. So the biodegradable Linear Alkyl benzene Sulfonate(LAS) has been adapted as the substituents for the Alkyl Benzene Sulfonate (ABS) since the 1980. However, the Inassive bubbles stemmed from use of synthetic detergents in the sewage treatment plant and the branch of tile Han River had been reported. Therefore, this investigation less undertaken so as to know the pollution of detergents in domestic sewage and the receiving river, and determine the biodegradation of synthetic detergents since ABS has been replaced by LAS in 1980. The study results on the pollution and biodegradation of synthetic detergents were as follows . 1. The major streams in Seoul were contaminated by synthetic detergents. The concentration of detergents were 2.48 mg/l of Anyangchon. 2. The biodegradation were determined by spontaneous settling and aeration. Since the LAS was substitute for ABS in 1980, detergents was more easy to biodegradable. The reduction ratio of Tanchon, Chungranchon, and Anyangchon were 15% , 11% and 16% by the settling and 76%, 77% and 82% by aerations for 5 days.