Microwave-assisted solvent elution technique for the extraction of organic pollutants in water

Solid phase extraction (SPE) with appropriate solid sorbents has been commonly used in the routine extraction of organic pollutants in water. The elution of analytes from the solid sorbents normally takes place by organic solvents under an applied vacuum. In this study, a microwave-assisted solvent elution technique was developed for the elution of analytes from C18 membrane disks during microwave irradiation from a microwave extraction system (MES). Several parameters, namely, elution solvent, elution temperature, duration of elution and the volume of solvent which may affect the elution efficiency of microwave-assisted solvent elution (MASE) technique towards organochlorine pesticides (OCPs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), phthalate esters (PAEs), organophosphorus pesticides (OPs), fungicides, herbicides and insecticides from the membrane disk were investigated. Good recoveries above 75% were obtained for most of the organic pollutants using the optimum SPE-MASE technique. The effect of sodium chloride and humic acid on the recoveries on the target analytes were also investigated.