Microwave assisted methodology for the determination of organic pollutants in organic municipal wastes and soils: extraction of polychlorinated biphenyls using heat transformer disks

Known benefits of microwave assisted extraction (MAE) of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) from solid matrices could be proven by the described approach using n-heptane as solely applied extraction solvent. Heat transfer within the extraction vessels was achieved by heat transformer disks which absorb microwave energy and transform it into heat rapidly and independently of the temperature present in the sample-solvent system. Disadvantageous co-extraction of polar substances could be ruled out and thus clean-up of the samples was simplified and sufficient for subsequent GC-MS analysis. Comparison with other extraction techniques confirmed the efficiency of this method also for aged samples.