Some aspects of the analysis of environmental pollutants in sediments using pressurized liquid extraction and gas chromatography–mass spectrometry

Pressurized liquid extraction (PLE) is a fully automated extraction technique for isolation of analytes from solid samples. This technique combines elevated temperature and pressure of liquid solvents during the extraction process. In this study the efficiency of a PLE system for the isolation of wide range of analytes (polychlorinated biphenyls and organic pesticides from sediments under different pressure and temperature conditions) was investigated. The temperature 100 °C and pressure 6.9 MPa (1000 p.s.i.; 1 p.s.i.=6894.76 Pa) were found to be the most efficient from all investigated conditions. Using these PLE parameters, the average recoveries for most of the analytes were in the range 80–105% and relative standard deviation was usually under 15%. The conditions of determination of analytes in the extracts using GC–MS were established. Some problems occurring during the analysis of real samples, such as coelution of analytes, were established. The influence of internal standard addition on the final analysis results was determined.