Comparison of accelerated solvent extraction and soxhlet extraction for the determination of PCBs in Baltic Sea sediments

The effectiveness of the extraction conditions proposed in ASE U.S. EPA Met hod 3545 was evaluated for the extraction of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB s) in Baltic Sea sediments with different sample characteristics such as or ganic carbon, soot carbon, sulfur, water content, and PCB concentration ran ge. PCB concentrations determined with accelerated solvent extraction (ASE) using n-hexane/ acetone (1:1, v/v) as organic solvents were compared to So xhlet extraction using toluene as organic solvent. The results indicated th at sediments containing relatively low amounts of organic and soot carbon c an be quantitatively extracted by ASE in 5 min with n-hexane/acetone (propo sed in EPA Method 3545). However, for sediments with larger amounts of carb on, the total amount of PCBs present in th a sam pie might be underestimate d when using n-hexane/ acetone. For these latter sediments, toluene seems t o increase the extraction efficiency in ASE.