ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Determining Polychlorinated Biphenyls in Soil
Using Accelerated Solvent Extraction (ASE)
Iwona Krzemień-Konieczka, Bogusław Buszewski
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Department of Environmental Chemistry and Bioanalytics, Faculty of Chemistry,
Nicolaus Copernicus University, Gagarin 7, 87-100 Torun, Poland
Submission date: 2015-04-02
Acceptance date: 2015-05-26
Publication date: 2015-09-21
Pol. J. Environ. Stud. 2015;24(5):2029-2033
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ABSTRACT
Contamination of the environment with compounds belonging to the persistent organic pollutants
(POPs) group constitutes a global problem. According to the Stockholm Convention adopted in 2001, much
effort should be put into the minimisation of its presence not only in soil, water, and residues, but also in living
organisms where these compounds are accumulated. As a consequence of research conducted in the area
of environmental matrices involving wide ranges of chemical compounds, a growing demand for various certified
reference materials has been observed. This study was focused on finding the most efficient extraction
conditions for six polychlorinated biphenyl congeners: Nos. 28, 52, 101, 138, 153, and 180, with the accelerated
solvent extraction (ASE) method and with the use of CRM963 manufactured by RTC. Analyte recovery
was examined by the application of the following solvents: hexane, hexane/acetone, and acetone/
dichloromethane at 150ºC and 170ºC. The best recovery (88.5-106%) and the lowest standard deviation
(2.1-5.7%) values were obtained for hexane at 170ºC. The method was further employed to determine the
homogeneity and stability of soil being the candidate for CRM. Moisture and organic carbon content in both
the CRM963 as well as the soil examined were determined.