Optimized extraction of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons from contaminated soil samples

A comparison of Soxhlet extraction and a new extraction technique, fluidized-bed extraction, has been conducted. The extraction of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) by this new technique has been optimized considering as experimental variables the variation of the number of extraction cycles and the holding time after reaching the heating temperature by means of a surface response design. The significance of the operational parameters of the fluidized-bed extraction onto the performance characteristics has been investigated. For the determination of the analytes, a cleanup of the extracts followed by gas chromatography with mass spectrometric detection was used. The accuracy of the method was established by extraction and analysis of a reference material, supplied from the European Commission's Joint Research Centre.