Mahdi Seyedsalehi
Department of Industrial Engineering, kharazmi University, Tehran, Iran
Biography
Surfactants enter the water and wastewater through the watery wastes of household washing machines and other washing operations as well as industrial wastewater. Surfactants are divided into several types including non-ionic, anionic, cationic and amphoteric. Anionic and non-ionic are the most common types of surfactants. Surface active substance or surfactants constitute the constituents, additives and fillers of four main chemicals in detergents. Surfactants are the most important chemicals in detergents and cleaners which are approximately 5 to 30 percent of the weight of the detergents. In 1960 the most common surfactants in detergents were alkyl benzene sulfonate which increased wastewater treatment problems due to its resistance to biodegradation.