Analytical Sciences


Abstract − Analytical Sciences, 22(11), 1455 (2006).

Development of a Combined Solid-Phase Extraction-Supercritical Fluid Extraction Procedure for the Determination of Polychlorinated Biphenyls in Wastewater
Saioa ZORITA, Rikard WESTBOM, Lars THÖRNEBY, Erland BJÖRKLUND, and Lennart MATHIASSON
Department of Analytical Chemistry, Lund University, P. O. Box 124, SE-221 00 Lund, Sweden
A combined solid-phase extraction (SPE)-supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) procedure was developed for the analysis of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in wastewater. The importance of cleaning and drying the filters and SPE-disks prior to eluting PCBs with SFE was studied, leading to improved recoveries for all congeners investigated. The average PCB recovery of the final procedure, at a concentration of 18 ng/L in reagent water, was 101% with relative standard deviations ranging from 1 to 5% for the different congeners. Spiked leachate to a final concentration of 4 ng/L was extracted directly after spiking, or after 24 h of spiking. An average recovery of 112% was obtained in the direct extraction of spiked leachate.