Comparison of extraction techniques for the isolation of explosives and their degradation products from soil

A comparison of four extraction techniques used for the isolation of 14 explosive compounds (Method 8330-Explosives) from spiked soil samples is described. Soxhlet warm extraction (SWE), pressurized solvent extraction (PSE), microwave assisted extraction (MAE) and supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) were included. The effects of basic extraction conditions – i.e. type of extraction solvent, temperature, pressure, and extraction time – were investigated. The best extraction recovery of the monitored compounds from spiked soil was obtained using pressurized solvent extraction. Recoveries of explosives using the PSE technique were in the range from 65 to 112%. Extraction recoveries by Soxhlet warm extraction and supercritical fluid extraction reached 65–99% and 52–75%, respectively. The lowest extraction recoveries (28–65%) were obtained using microwave assisted extraction. A very low extraction recovery for tetryl was observed in all cases but the best results were achieved by pressurized solvent extraction (58%).     

Analysis of chlorophenols,bisphenol-A, 4-tert-octylphenol and 4-nonylphenols in soil by means of ultrasonic solvent extraction and stir bar sorptive extraction with in situ derivatisation

A novel method based on ultrasonic solvent extraction and stir bar sorptive extraction for the analysis of phenolic organic pollutants including chlorophenols, bisphenol-A, 4-tert-octylphenol and 4-nonylphenol in soil samples was developed. The different parameters that affect both the extraction of analytes from the soil samples, such as solvent selection, extraction time, and the partitioning from the solvent/water mix to poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) were studied. The final selected conditions consisted of the extraction of 1 g of soil with 15 mL methanol by sonication for 30 min. The methanol extract was mixed with 85 mL of Milli-Q water and extracted by means of stir bar sorptive extraction with in situ derivatisation. The stir bars were analyzed by thermal desorption–gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (TD–GC–MS). The effects of the matrix on the recovery of the various pollutants under the developed method were studied using two soils with very different physicochemical properties. Method sensitivity, linearity, repeatability, and reproducibility were also studied. Validation and accuracy of the method were conducted by analyzing two commercial certified reference materials and by comparing the analysis of real samples with the proposed method and a classical method using pressurized solvent extraction (PSE)–GC–MS. The main advantage of this method is a substantial solvent reduction. For the extraction of only 1 g of solid sample allowing limits of detection ranging from 0.2 to 1.7 μg kg⁻¹ dw. Repeatability and reproducibility variation were lower than 20% for all investigated compounds. Results of the certified reference materials and the real samples verify the high accuracy of this method.     

Analysis of 51 persistent organic pollutants in soil by means of ultrasonic solvent extraction and stir bar sorptive extraction GC-MS

A novel method based on ultrasonic solvent extraction and stir bar sorptive extraction (SBSE) for the analysis of 51 persistent organic pollutants including organochlorine pesticides (OCPs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and polybrominated diphenylethers (PBDEs) in soil samples was developed. The different parameters that affect both the extraction of analytes from the soil samples, such as solvent selection, solvent volume, mass of soil, and extraction time, and the partitioning from the solvent/water mixture to the PDMS were studied. The final selected conditions consisted of the extraction of 1 g of soil with 15 mL methanol by sonication for 30 min. The methanol extract was mixed with 85 mL of Milli-Q water and extracted by means of SBSE for 14 h at 900 rpm. The stir bars were analyzed by thermal desorption-GC-mass spectometry (TD-GC-MS). The effects of the matrix on the recovery of the various pollutants under the developed method were studied using two soils with very different physicochemical properties. Method sensitivity, linearity, repeatability, and reproducibility were also studied. Validation and accuracy of the method were conducted by analyzing two commercial certified reference materials (CRMs). The main advantage of this method resides in the fact that a small amount of a nontoxic solvent (methanol) is needed for the extraction of only 1 g of solid sample allowing LODs ranging from 0.01 to 2.0 microg/kg. Repeatability and reproducibility variations were lower than 20% for all investigated compounds. Results of the CRMs verify the high accuracy of this method.     

Novel pressurized solvent extraction vessels for the analysis of polychlorinated biphenyl congeners in avian whole blood

Persistent organic pollutants remain a serious threat to many food-chain systems. New pollutants continue to emerge. The present study has created novel extraction vessels which are compatible with readily available commercial instrumentation to validate the analysis of one class of persistent organic pollutants, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), in avian blood. The volumes used can be reasonably sampled without sacrificing individuals, or comprising breeding or migratorial success. The procedure consists of the pressurized solvent extraction (PSE) of analytes in a novel PSE extraction vessel. The new extraction cell contains a 38-cm long, coiled, re-packable, in situ clean-up column. Lipid elimination, using Florisil, occurs within the coiled region of the extraction vessel, eliminating the requirement for post extraction clean-up. For development, 0.2 g samples of chicken whole blood have been used. Extract volumes are reduced from (30 to 10) cm³, compared to unmodified systems. The new PSE vessel with its integrated clean-up method showed satisfactory performance for the analysis of ten environmentally relevant PCB congeners in chicken whole blood samples with recoveries in the range of (70-130)%. Detection limits using gas chromatography coupled with large volume injection ion-trap mass spectrometry (GC-LVI-ITMS-MS) were in the range of (0.05-0.5) ng g⁻¹. The relative standard deviations for all congeners investigated were better than 5%. This is the first PSE validation to have been conducted on unaltered whole blood samples.     

Extraction of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and organochlorine pesticides from soils: a comparison between Soxhlet extraction, microwave-assisted extraction and accelerated solvent extraction techniques

The methods of simultaneous extraction of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) from soils using Soxhlet extraction, microwave-assisted extraction (MAE) and accelerated solvent extraction (ASE) were established, and the extraction efficiencies using the three methods were systemically compared from procedural blank, limits of detection and quantification, method recovery and reproducibility, method chromatogram and other factors. In addition, soils with different total organic carbon contents were used to test the extraction efficiencies of the three methods. The results showed that the values obtained in this study were comparable with the values reported by other studies. In some respects such as method recovery and reproducibility, there were no significant differences among the three methods for the extraction of PAHs and OCPs. In some respects such as procedural blank and limits of detection and quantification, there were significant differences among the three methods. Overall, ASE had the best extraction efficiency compared to MAE and Soxhlet extraction, and the extraction efficiencies of MAE and Soxhlet extraction were comparable to each other depending on the property such as TOC content of the studied soil. Considering other factors such as solvent consumption and extraction time, ASE and MAE are preferable to Soxhlet extraction.     

Continuous Pressurized Solvent Extraction of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons From Biosolids. Assessment of Their Lability in Soils Amended with Biosolids

An extraction method of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) from biosolids, based on continuous pressurized solvent extraction (PSE), was developed and optimized through an experimental design and followed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry determination. From multivariate analysis, the optimum values for extraction variables were: extraction temperature, 110°C and dynamic extraction time, 42 min, by using a mixture of dichloromethane and acetone (1:1, v/v) as the extraction solvent at a flow rate of 1 ml min^?1. Under optimum extraction conditions, the detection limits for the analytes were between 0.01 and 0.14 mg kg^?1 with recoveries of between 50 and 126%, which were determined by analysis of certified reference material (Sewage Sludge PAH, LGC6182). The method was applied to assess the lability of PAHs in soils amended with biosolids. It was confirmed that a fraction of these compounds undergoes strong retention in the soil, probably due to interaction with humin material. On the other hand, the amount of PAHs extracted was significantly lower after the 30-day incubation process, which is clearly exacerbated in PAHs with molecular weight lower than 228. This effect observed in the four soils under study can be attributed to degradation of these compounds by soil and biosolid microorganisms.     

Application of surfactants and microemulsions to the extraction of pyrene and phenanthrene from soil with three different extraction methods

In the present work, the use of surfactants and oil-in-water (O/W) microemulsions as alternative extractants in accelerated solvent extraction (ASE) for the extraction of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (pyrene and phenanthrene) from soils was investigated. In particular, the effect of each individual component within the microemulsions, i.e., oil phase, surfactant and co-surfactatnt, and extraction conditions on the percentage recovery was systematically studied. When compared to the water and organic solvent, the important findings were that the common surfactant solutions at the concentrations above their critical micelle concentrations (CMC) were shown to enhance the percentage recovery at the lower extraction temperature. Moreover, the highest percentage recovery can be obtained using microemulsion as the extractant. The chemical component within the microemulsions and relative amounts of the oil phase appeared to play a much more significant role in ensuring high percentage recovery. Finally, an overall comparison between the percentage recoveries obtained with ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE), microwave-assisted extraction (MAE) and ASE using organic solvents, surfactants and microemulsions as extractants was exhibited.     

Extraction of polycyclic aromatic nitrogen heterocycles from spiked soil samples

Extraction recovery of 10 selected polycyclic aromatic nitrogen heterocycles (PANHs), quinoline, 2-methylquinoline, 6-methylquinoline, 8-methylquinoline, acridine, benzo[h]quinoline, phenantridine, indole, 2-methylindole, and carbazole from spiked soil samples was tested. Four different extraction techniques, pressurized solvent extraction (PSE), supercritical fluid extraction (SFE), Soxhlet warm extraction (SOXW) and standard Soxhlet extraction (SOX), were applied and compared. The RP-HPLC technique with a silica-based octadecyl stationary phase was used for recovery determination of individual PANHs. Supercritical fluid extraction has been found to be the most effective method for the extraction of selected PANHs from soil. PSE and SOXW methods offered similar results with slightly lower extraction recoveries compared with SFE. On the contrary, SOX is a time-consuming method with a low recovery of target analytes and is not suitable for the extraction of PANHs from soils.     

A Unified Sample Preparation System for Extraction of Various Analyte/Matrix Combinations

A supercritical fluid extraction/enhanced solvent extraction system (SFE/ESE) was used to remove polar and non-polar analytes from various matrices. Extraction of environmental pollutants from soil, additives from low density polyethylene, sulfa drugs from animal tissue, and drug from tablet was performed using both SFE and ESE. Results showed that a single instrumental system can be used to perform both ESE with organic solvents and SFE with carbon dioxide-based fluids. Each method has its own unique advantages and applications. The ability to carry out both solvent extraction and supercritical fluid extraction with one system has obvious economical advantages.     

加速溶剂萃取-气相色谱法测定土壤中三种有机磷农药和除草剂莠去津

提出了气相色谱法测定土壤中莠去津和3种有机磷农药敌敌畏、甲拌磷和乐果的含量的方法。样品经粉碎后用丙酮-二氯甲烷(1+1)混合溶剂经加速溶剂萃取仪在60℃静态萃取10min。采用Rtx-1701色谱柱分离,火焰光度检测器测定3种有机磷农药;采用Rtx-CLP II色谱柱分离,电子捕获检测器测定莠去津。结果表明:加速溶剂萃取比超声提取法处理样品的回收率高。敌敌畏、甲拌磷、乐果和莠去津的检出限(3S/N)分别为0.08,0.07,0.09,0.40μg.kg-1。以空白土壤样品为基体,进行加标回收试验,回收率在82.0%～106.0%之间,相对标准偏差(n=7)在10.5%～16.9%之间。     

Pressurised solvent extraction for organotin speciation in vegetable matrices

Because organotin compounds (OTC) are widely used in many fields of activity, they have become an ubiquitous environmental presence. The presence of organotins in the environment impacts upon food safety, making it important to monitor the levels of organotin pesticides in fruits and vegetables. Nevertheless, only a few studies have been published on organotin speciation in plants. The objective of the present study was to evaluate and optimise a specific procedure based on pressurised solvent extraction (PSE) that is suitable for monitoring organotin content in vegetables. In ASE, solvents are used at elevated temperatures and pressures to increase the rate and efficiency of the extraction process. The results from this procedure were compared to those from the technique usually employed, solid/liquid extraction (SLE) performed in an acidic solvent by mechanical shaking. Three extracting solutions were tested—methanol, ethyl acetate and a mixture of methanol and ethyl acetate—and the mixture was found to give the most quantitative results while preserving the speciation. French bean and lettuce leaves as well as potato tubers were used as the plant materials. These vegetables were considered because they are the vegatables consumed in the most quantities in Europe. The study focuses on trisubstituted OTCs, which are the most toxic tin species. The samples were spiked with four trisubstituted organotins: tributyltin (TBT), triphenyltin (TPhT), tricyclohexyltin (TcHexT) and trioctyltin (TOcT). The influence of the pressure and the temperature of the PSE on the quantitativity of the process and on species preservation was evaluated using the experimental design methodology. The optimised PSE allowed detection limits down to 1–2 ng (Sn) g^–1 to be reached. These are higher than those obtained by SLE (0.1–1 ng (Sn) g^–1). Although the repeatability is similar for both PSE and SLE (2–12% for triorganotin compounds), this appears to be highly time-dependent in the case of SLE. Comparison with SLE confirms that PSE is an interesting tool for vegetable analysis considering the satisfactory OTC preservation and repeatability obtained for a relatively short extraction duration (only 15 min against 2–12 h for SLE).     

Comparison of headspace solid‐phase microextraction and solvent extraction method for the simultaneous analysis of various soil fumigants in soil or water by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry

The quantity of soil fumigants has increased globally that has focused attention on their environmental behavior. However, simultaneous analysis of traces of fumigant residues is often unreported because analysis methods are not readily available to measure them at low concentrations. In this study, typical solvent extraction methods were compared with headspace solid‐phase microextraction methods. Both methods can be used for simultaneously measuring the concentrations of five commonly used soil fumigants in soil or water. The solvent extraction method showed acceptable recovery (76–103%) and intraday relative standard deviations (0.8–11%) for the five soil fumigants. The headspace solid‐phase microextraction method also showed acceptable recovery (72–104%) and precision rates (1.3–17%) for the five soil fumigants. The solvent extraction method was more precise and more suitable for analyzing relatively high fumigant residue levels (0.05–5 μg/g) contained in multiple soil samples. The headspace solid‐phase microextraction method, however, had a much lower limits of detection (0.09–2.52 μg/kg or μg/L) than the solvent extraction method (5.8–29.2 μg/kg), making headspace solid‐phase microextraction most suitable for trace analysis of these fumigants. The results confirmed that the headspace solid‐phase microextraction method was more convenient and sensitive for the determination of fumigants to real soil samples.     

Comparison of pressurized solvent and reflux extraction methods for the determination of perfluorooctanoic acid in polytetrafluoroethylene polymers using LC-MS-MS

Both pressurized solvent extraction (PSE) and reflux extraction in various solvents were used to select the most efficient system for the determination of the quantity of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) present in polytetrafluoroethylene polymers. After evaporating the solvent, PFOA was determined using liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry. Ethanol, water and methanol gave comparable results and were shown to be good solvents for this extraction. Acetonitrile was a reasonable solvent using the reflux extraction method, but not with PSE. Chloroform resulted in poor recovery for both extraction methods. PSE proved to be the more efficient extraction method.     

加速溶剂萃取-气相色谱-质谱法测定固体废物中酚类化合物

提出了气相色谱-质谱法测定固体废物中12种酚类化合物残留量的方法。样品以丙酮-二氯甲烷(2+3)混合液为萃取剂,经加速溶剂萃取仪提取后,在K-D浓缩装置上浓缩至1 mL,经硅胶柱净化后,用丙酮-二氯甲烷(1+9)混合液淋洗后再经K-D浓缩至1 mL,通过HP-5 MS石英毛细管色谱柱(30 m×0.25 mm,0.25μm)分离,采用电子轰击离子源选择离子监测模式进行质谱测定。12种酚类化合物的检出限(3S/N)在9.60～18.5μg.kg-1之间。以空白土壤样品为基体进行回收试验,测得回收率在74.7%～108.4%之间,测定值的相对标准偏差(n=7)均小于7.5%。     

Microwave extraction of phthalate esters from marine sediment and soil

Summary As part of an on-going ASEAN⁺⁾-Canada Cooperative Programme on Marine Science, microwave-assisted solvent extraction has been employed for the extraction of six phthalate esters from marine sediment and soil samples. Five of the six esters studied are among the United States Environmental Protection Agency's list of top priority pollutants. The effects of extraction solvent, extraction temperature, duration of extraction and extraction volume on the mean recoveries of the six phthalate esters were quantitatively evaluated by means of an analysis of variance, followed by testing the differences among the level means for each condition with least significant difference method. Microwave-assisted solvent extraction allowed comparable or higher recoveries of the six phthalate esters (70.1–91.0%) in comparison with conventional soxhlet (65.5–89.5%) and sonication (64.6–88.6%). The precision of results by microwave-assisted solvent extraction was improved significantly compared to the conventional techniques. The microwave extraction system has many advantages over the soxhlet and sonication extraction, e.g., no laborious clean-up procedure, lower usage of hazardous organic solvent, and larger sample throughput. The technique has been employed for the analysis of native marine sediment and soil samples in Singapore.     

Determination of Chlorfenvinphos in Soils by Microwave‐Assisted Extraction and Stripping Voltammetry with an Ultramicroelectrode

Abstract

A methodology for the determination of the pesticide chlorfenvinphos by microwave‐assisted solvent extraction and square‐wave cathodic stripping voltammetry at a mercury film ultramicroelectrode in soil samples is proposed. Optimization of microwave solvent extraction performed with two soils, selected for having significantly different properties, indicated that the optimum solvent for extracting chlorfenvinphos is hexane‐acetone (1∶1, v/v). The voltammetric procedure is based on controlled adsorptive accumulation of the insecticide at the potential of?0.60 V (vs. Ag/AgCl) in the presence of Britton‐Robinson buffer (pH 6.2). The detection limit obtained for a 10 s collection time was 3.0×10^?8 mol l^?1. The validity of the developed methodology was assessed by recovery experiments at the 0.100 µg g^?1 level. The average recoveries and standard deviations for the global procedure reached by MASE‐square‐wave voltammetry were 90.2±2.8% and 92.1±3.4% for type I (soil rich in organic matter) and type II (sandy soil) samples, respectively. These results are in accordance to the expected values which show that the method has a good accuracy.     

Improved extraction and clean-up of imidazolinone herbicides from soil solutions using different solid-phase sorbents

Extraction and quantification of herbicide residues from soil are important in understanding the behaviour of persistent herbicides. This research investigated extraction and clean-up methods for imidazolinone herbicides from soil and soil amended with organic material. A series of solvent mixes, pH conditions and sorbents was tested. Across three imidazolinone herbicides: imazapyr, imazethapyr and imazaquin, 0.5 M NaOH extraction gave greater than 90% recovery from soil samples; however, 0.5 M NaOH:MeOH (80:20) resulted in higher recovery for imazaquin, but not for the other two herbicides. Of the sorbents tested, the use of chromatographic mode sequencing using C₁₈ and SCX sorbents provided consistent high (>85%) recovery of all three herbicides from soil and separation of the herbicides from other soil components by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). These two methods will allow high recovery of these imidazolinone herbicides from soil and have the ability to detect these herbicides without interference from other soil components.     

快速溶剂萃取一气相色谱法测定土壤中多氯联苯Aroclor系列

建立了快速溶剂萃取、浓硫酸净化、气相色谱法测定土壤中多氯联苯Aroclor系列的方法.方法线性良好、灵敏度高、回收率在70%～110%之间、相对标准偏差RSD小于17%,并用于有证的标准土壤样品及环境实样的分析,结果满意.     

Evaluation and optimization of extraction and clean-up methods for the analysis of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in peat samples

The analysis of PAH in peat samples is complicated by the high content of organic matter in peat which affects both extraction efficiency and analytical quality. Therefore, we evaluated the efficiencies of three extraction methods (accelerated solvent extraction (ASE), fluidized bed extraction, ultrasonic extraction) and several clean-up techniques in order to find the best set of methods. ASE proved to be the best extraction method. For clean-up, a procedure using aluminium oxide and silica gel showed the highest efficiency, whereas a method originally developed for soil samples failed to remove the peat matrix satisfactorily. With the optimized extraction and clean-up procedure, 170 samples from Canadian bogs were analysed for PAH. With overall recovery rates between 69?±?14 and 89?±?16% and an inaccuracy of ≤20%, the optimized method was a well suitable tool for the analysis of PAH in peat samples.     

Evaluation of Soxhlet extraction, accelerated solvent extraction and microwave-assisted extraction for the determination of polychlorinated biphenyls and polybrominated diphenyl ethers in soil and fish samples

Three commonly applied extraction techniques for persistent organic chemicals, Soxhlet extraction (SE), accelerated solvent extraction (ASE) and microwave-assisted extraction (MAE), were applied on soil and fish samples in order to evaluate their performances. For both PCBs and PBDEs, the two more recent developed techniques (ASE and MAE) were in general capable of producing comparable extraction results as the classical SE, and even higher extraction recoveries were obtained for some PCB congeners with large octanol-water partitioning coefficients (K_ow). This relatively uniform extraction results from ASE and MAE indicated that elevated temperature and pressure are favorable to the efficient extraction of PCBs from the solid matrices. For PBDEs, difference between the results from MAE and ASE (or SE) suggests that the MAE extraction condition needs to be carefully optimized according to the characteristics of the matrix and analyte to avoid degradation of higher brominated BDE congeners and improve the extraction yields.