Análisis por cromatografía ultrarrápida de los alquilbencenosulfonatos lineales (LAS) en fangos de depuradora y estudio de su evolución durante los procesos de postratamiento

The linear alkylbenzene sulfonates (LAS) are the anionic surfactants used more commonly. After its utilisation, they are eliminated in waters of industrial and urban use. In the purification process, part of LAS persists in sewage sludge. Due to the interest to use sewage sludge with agricultural aims, it becomes necessary to have analytical methods that allow to know the degree of contamination of such sewage sludge through these compounds. In this work a method of HPLC-UV is described, useful for the analysis of sewage sludge and their derivatives. The method uses a high speed column, obtaining the result in 8 minutes. In this work also is demonstrated that the compost process is useful to reduce the LAS presents in sewage sludge until acceptable levels to be usable in agriculture.