3.1 Distribution and concentration LABs
Congeners structure of the LABs is shown in Fig. 2 as the "n-Cm" LAB, where "n" indicates the benzene ring position on the straight alkyl chain and "m" indicates how many alkyl carbons there are. LAB C10–14 found in all sediment samples under analysis. In the Kim Kim river and Port Dickson Coast, LABs C10–C14 ranged from 88.3–112.0 and 119.0–256.0 ng g-1dw, respectively.
The results of this investigation demonstrate that there was a highly significant Pearson correlation between LABs concentration of the investigated locations (p < 0.05, r = 0.88)), suggesting that LABs may be used as a marker for tracing domestic and industrial contamination (Table 3). Between 88.3 and 256ng∙g−1dw of LAB were present, with a significant concentration at the Port Dickson coast (Fig. 3). This is in line with a significant variation in LAB concentration between study locations at p < 0.05 (Table 4a, b).
Based on the LAB content, the treated effluent runoff and their dilution with organic matter are the most likely causes of LABs' spatial distribution in the riverine environment, which may have an impact on the distribution of LABs on riverine ecosystems (Zeng et al., 1997; Cabral and Martins, 2018a). On the other hand, the spatial distribution of LABs in coastal areas may be explained by high levels of industrialisation, urbanisation, and a lack of piped sewers (Shahbazi et al., 2010; Sakai et al., 2016).
The investigational sites have lower LAB concentrations than Port Klang, the Penang Estuary, Malacca, and the Anzali Wetland (Isobe et al., 2004; Bakhtiari et al., 2018). Additionally, in contrast to those found in Southern Brazil and the Pearl River, the LABs found in this study had high and comparable quantities (Luo et al., 2008; Zacchi et al., 2018).
It was discovered that LAB isomers and homologs were regularly distributed along this trend: the the Kim Kim river < Port Dickson. Thus, it demonstrates that the LAB distribution may be influenced by the geographic placement of sampling locations. Additionally, it showed that in comparison to Malaysia and the rest of the world, the LABs in this research were low to moderate as an indicator of industrial and domestic pollution.
The significant difference between LAB homologs in sample locations is seen in Table 4a, b at p < 0.05. The proportion of homologs and isomers containing, C13 was discovered to be highly significant in the Kim Kim River's LABs, followed by C12 and C14 (Fig.4; Table 4a, b). Contrarily, C10 and C11 homologs showed low quantities, showing that LABs containing C10 and C11 compounds were selectively degraded during the discharge of industrial effluents. It is demonstrated that long-chain LABs made up the majority of the LAB concentration in the River (LC-LABs). According to the chemical compound test, the concentrations of the 6, 5-C13, and 6-C12 isomers are higher than those of others, demonstrating that LABs have long lateral transport. It was discovered that the concentration of C13 homologs in the SKK1 station is high, indicating that these compounds are degrading anaerobically (Dauner et al., 2015; Alkhadher et al., 2020b). Surprisingly, LABs were found to be on the rise in this study compared to what Isobe et al. had noted (2004). Additionally, compared to those with the previous studies, there are many of LABs in the mixture of isomeric and homologous molecules, especially LC-LABs like C13-LAB (Isobe et al., 2004).
The sediments around the Port Dickson coast contain the largest concentration of C13-LAB homologs, whereas C10 homologs have the lowest quantities across all sites in this region. Contrarily, LC-LABs, such as C13 and C14, had higher concentrations than SC-LABs, which included homologs of C10 and C11. Therefore, C13 homologs were the most prevalent and dominant chain length of the LAB distribution, followed by C12, C14, C10, and C11 homologs. The most probable explanation for this LAB chain length compositional range has to do with the increased hydrophobicity of LABs as chain length increases (Sherblom et al., 1992).
When compared to detergents studied by Luo et al., (2008), the homologs distribution in sediments of this region tends to be lower with C10 homologs.
The comparison of LABs' LC and SC in the areas under investigation is shown in Fig. 5. The first and second sites had the highest amounts of LC homologs relative to SC ones. The most likely explanation for this is that the SC-homologs (i.e., C10, C11) showed higher rates of selective deterioration in the sediments than the LC ones (Magam et al., 2015; Alkhadher et al., 2016).
3.2 Efficiency Evaluation of LAB Degradation and Effluent Treatment
Primary treatment effluent was found to be the predominant source of LABs of the Kim Kim river, whereas secondary treatment effluents were the principal source in Port Dickson (Figure 6). This is connected to the high STP levels present in the study regions (Alkhadher et al., 2020a).
I/E ratios in the Kim Kim river varied from 1.7 at SKK 2 to 2.0 at SKK 1, with an average of 1.8, indicating that primary treated effluents were discharged to the river water, which is consistent with research by Gustafson et al (2001). L/S ratio ranged from 2.4 to 2.6 on average, as well as it was greater than 1.8 in detergents (Ni et al., 2008), indicating improved LAB biodegradation. In addition, the C13/C12 ratio was in the range of 5.1 to 5.2, on average 5.1, greater than the 1.7 ratio seen in coastal sediments, ranging from (Liu et al., 2013).
In contrast, the I/E ratio in Port Dickson ranged from 2.0 to 4.1, indicating that effluents from secondary treatment were released here.
The I/E ratios were higher than those found in the river of Selangor (0.2–1.0; Masood et al. 2015), according to the results, substantial discharges of pre-treated effluents is anticipated. The LABs degradation also goes through an aerobic condition.
Further evaluation of LAB biodegradation in the examined locations was done using L/S and C13/C12 ratios. The idea that the Port Dickson received untreated effluents, as previously mentioned, is supported by the partial presence of LAB. More than 80 sewage pipelines were observed to discharge untreated effluents and wastewaters from hotels and housing outlets onto the coastlines, resulting in a lack of quality and protection of the coastlines (Hamzah et al., 2011; Thomes et al., 2019).
However, the rates of LAB degradation ranged from low in the Kim Kim river (SKK3; 34%) to high in the Port Dickson (SPD1; 64%), indicating that LABs degraded more quickly along the Port Dickson shore than in the Kim Kim. Because residents use it for recreational and fishing purposes, there has been a high direct discharge from ferries and boats into the river in recent years (Abu Samah et al., 2011). Detergent waste discharge and washing from boats result in an increase in LABs in the river sediments, which to some extent significantly alters molecular indices.
It is clear that raw, primary, and additional secondary treated effluents released into the ecosystem constitute LAB inputs in developing nations like Malaysia.
The study's findings revealed that the Kim Kim river contains more primary industrial effluents and that LABs are discharged from a range of sources, such as municipal or industrial wastewaters. These findings suggest a potential improvement in the movement of LASs from their primary sources through their later transport (Zhang et al., 2012; Harwood, 2014; Cabral et al., 2018b).
3.3 TOC Evaluation
Owing to high hydrophobicity nature, LABs are likely to have a high attach to the organic materials when they enter the aquatic environment. Hence, TOC in the sediments correlated to the LAB concentration (Wang et al., 2001).
A minor correlation between LABs and TOC (R2 = 0.42) was found in the Kim Kim when TOC was observed in the sediment samples, in addition, the linear regression was used to evaluate its relationship with LABs. Therefore, TOC did not take into account a determining element in LABs distribution. The LABs input intensity, which are released from many residential and industrial sources, may therefore be the important component. Previous research found that Peninsular Malaysia's Selangor and Perak Rivers have modest LABs-TOC correlations, with R2 values of 0.008 and 0.17. (Masood et al., 2015; Magam et al., 2015).
However, there was a relationship between TOC and LAB concentration in the Port Dickson coast (R2 = 0.64), suggesting that TOC may be a determining factor in the LABs' geographical distribution from city and industrial zone. This outcome agreed with that of the Dongjiang River (R2 = 0.82), indicating that wastewater treatment plants and industrial waste in the research area are the primary sources of organic matter.
3.4 Source Apportionment
In this investigation, there was a lot of I/E ratio fluctuation. In many sites, readings below 1 indicate that untreated wastewater has been dumped into the aquatic environment. A PCA in Kim Kim river and the Port Dickson shoreline led to the extraction of the two components that together accounted for 89.2% of the variance in the composition of the LABs.
According to it, the first factor—with the exception of 2-Cn and 4-C13—is responsible for 55.4% of all variations (Table 5).
PCA was used to determine the most likely LABs sources in the Kim Kim river and the Port Dickson seashore. By removing the less significant factors with the least amount of data loss, this approach identifies the details of the variables that explain the variation in the data. The two PCs with multiple readings were obtained. PCs through eigenvalue more than one is measured based on the eigenvalues.
The two PCs reveal 78.28% in the sediments' LABs structure. Furthermore, it shown that PCA on the compositions of LABs offered superb correlations between the sampling sites. The importance of diffuse LAB sources in sedimentary LAB loading is demonstrated by strong spatial correlation of LAB compositions across different locales.
The results of PCA demonstrate that the first PCs, which account for 45.8% of the total variance, identify the main contamination sources in Kim Kim and Port Dickson coast. Except for 2-Cn and 4-C13, that laden in second factor which clarifies 38.39% of overall variation, this factor has loading of entire LABs (Table 5). While 2-Cn LABs were less common in wastewaters than other isomers, they were quicker to biodegrade than other isomers. This means that the 2-Cn loadings on second PC could be a sign for LAB coming from raw industrial effluent. While the first PC can indicate the release of LABs from industrial wastewaters that have been treated. Therefore, it is likely that the LABs sources are comparable across entirely locations. Moreover, some areas have an increase in LAB concentration as well as a decline I/E ratio may be caused by those areas' closeness to areas with dense populations, significant industrial activity, and tourism-related activities. Instead, the Kim Kim river has a lower concentration of LABs than the Port Dickson Coast due to areas that are less industrialised, urbanised, and populated close to the river.