SUPERCRITICAL-FLUID EXTRACTION OF EXPLOSIVES AND METABOLITES FROM COMPOSTED SOIL

Supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) experiments with composted explos ives lagoon soil suggest that recoveries of explosives and metabolites depend more on solvent diffusivity and viscosity than on the solubili ty of the analytes in the supercritical fluid. Preliminary evidence su ggests that SFE recoveries for octahydro-1,3,5,7-tetranitro-1,3,5,7-te trazocine (HMX; a particularly difficult to extract explosive) can equ al those for an 18 hr. ultrasonic extraction in acetonitrile. Much wor k is needed to confirm this observation, particularly to optimize the SFE conditions and improve the reproducibility of the extractions.