Extraction of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and polychlorinated dibenzofurans from environmental samples using accelerated solvent extraction (ASE)

Accelerated solvent extraction (ASE) applies temperature and pressure to accelerate extraction processes and improve the efficiency of solvent extraction. This paper reports on a study to compare the results obtained with Soxhlet to those obtained by ASE for various samples containing polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs) and polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs). Contaminated samples (soil, sediments, chimney brick, urban dust and fly ash) were extracted by ASE and Soxhlet. A review of the data indicates that ASE gives essentially equivalent data to Soxhlet extraction. However, ASE extractions are performed in less time and with less solvent (about 15 mL and less than 25 min for 10-g samples) than by the classical extraction techniques.