Surfactant leaching is a method of water and soil decontamination,Environmental Biotechnology: Principles and Applications, p. 272Knudsen O. Ø., P.J. Brandvik, A. Lewis, "Treating oil spills with W/O emulsion inhibitors: A laboratory study of surfactant leaching from the oil to the water phase", in: Proceedings of the Seventeenth Arctic and Marine Oilspill Program Technical Seminar, 1994, pp. 1023-1034 e.g., for oil recovery in petroleum industry.Hydrocarbon Contaminated Soils, Volume 3, pp. 15,16 It involves mixing of contaminated water or soil with surfactants with the subsequent leaching of emulsified contaminants. In oil recovery, most common surfactant types are ethoxylated alcohols, ethoxylated nonylphenols, sulphates, sulphonates, and biosurfactants.
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