Extraction of PCBs in spiked marine sediments using accelerated-solvent extraction (ASE) and Soxhlet extraction.

In this work, Soxhlet extraction and accelerated-solvent extraction (ASE) were compared for recovering of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in spiked marine sediment samples. Uncontaminated sediment samples were spiked with PCB standard and were analysed by both procedures. The determination of PCBs was performed by gas chromatography (GC) with electron capture detection (ECD). The mean recovery for PCB congeners was slightly higher for Soxhlet than for ASE extraction (96 ± 14 and 76 ± 29%, respectively), and both techniques presented lower recoveries of low-chlorinated PCBs in comparison with the recoveries of high-chlorinated PCBs. Although the ASE recoveries were modestly lower than Soxhlet, the results were satisfactory. On this way, the ASE extraction could be considered a useful and efficient method for PCB congeners analyses in marine sediments.