Surfactant leaching (decontamination)

Surfactant leaching is a method of water and soil decontamination,^[1][2] e.g., for oil recovery in petroleum industry.^[3][2] It involves mixing of contaminated water or soil with surfactants with the subsequent leaching of emulsified contaminants.^[1][3] In oil recovery, most common surfactant types are ethoxylated alcohols, ethoxylated nonylphenols, sulphates, sulphonates, and biosurfactants.^[3]