Malaysian
Journal of Analytical Sciences Vol 15 No 1 (2011): 1 – 7
ATMOSPHERIC
SURFACTANTS AROUND LAKE ECOSYSTEM OF TASIK KENYIR, TERENGGANU
Norfazrin Mohd
Hanif1 , Mohd Talib Latif2, Mohammed Rozali Othman1*
1School of
Chemical Sciences and Food Technology,
2School of
Environmental and Natural Resource Sciences,
Faculty of
Science and Technology, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia,
43600, UKM
Bangi, Selangor.
*Corresponding
author: rozali@ukm.my
Abstract
Lake ecosystem is a sources of natural organic matter
characteristic by humic-like substances (HULIS) believe to have high amount of
surface active agents (surfactants) which capable to influence the cloud and
climate. This study determined the concentration of anionic surfactants in the
atmosphere around lake ecosystems at Kenyir, Terengganu. Aerosols samples were
collected by using a High Volume Air Sampler (HVAS) equipped with high volume
impactor (to separate between fine and coarse mode aerosols) and glass-fibre
filter paper at flow rate of 1.13 m3min-1 for 24 hours.
Several possible sources of natural surfactants in the atmosphere e.g. soils,
vegetations and surface water were also collected in order to determine the
possible sources and flux of anionic surfactants in the atmosphere. Anionic
surfactant was analysed based on colorimetric methods by using methylene blue
active substances (MBAS) and UV-visible spectrophotometer at 650 nm.
Subsequently, simplified calculations were conducted in estimating the flux of
anionic surfactants from various possible sources. The results indicated that
the concentration of anionic surfactants in aerosols (coarse and fine mode),
soil, vegetation and surface water were 59.17 ± 2.61 μmol/m3 and
78.10 ± 9.30 μmol/m3, 0.33 ± 0.17 μmolg-1, 0.28
± 0.08 μmolg-1 (dry weight) and 0.01 ± 0.004 μmolL-1,
respectively. The overall flux of surfactants signified that soils provide the
highest amount of surfactants which is 119.39 Mmolyr-1 in comparison
to other possible sources (vegetation = 26.88 Mmolyr-1and surface
water = 12.1 x 10-6 Mmolyr-1). Results indicated that
soil become a significant natural source of anionic surfactants to the
atmosphere which may due to the availability of HULIS.
Keywords : anionic
surfactants, lake ecosystems, flux of anionic surfactants, HULIS
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