Evaluation of extraction methods of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) from soil and sewage sludge matrix

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are a large group of organic contaminants with related chemical structure and properties. In natural conditions, these compounds usually are in the form of mixtures. As their main source there are given the human activities. PAHs are composed of at least two aromatic rings without any additional substituents. A direct consequence of such structure are low solubility in water and high affinity for the sorption on the solid phase materials. Due to maintained properties the biggest reservoir of these substances are: soil, sediments, sewage sludge and solid waste fractions. The presence of large amounts of PAHs in an environment is associated with numerous problems. First of all, substances belonging to this group are characterized as highly toxic in relation to living organisms, including humans. Prolonged exposure to PAHs contributes also to the induction of spontaneous genetic changes which may lead to carcinogenesis. Taking the above information into account, it can be stated that the effective monitoring of PAHs content should have a great importance from the point of view of both environmental and human safety. The basic technique used for the quantitative isolation of PAHs from solid matrices (soil, sewage sludge) is the solid-liquid extraction method. This technique relies upon the ability of nonpolar organic solvents for elution of hydrophobic organic compounds from the environment in which they are located. Currently, in the scientific literature many various methods for PAHs extraction from solid matrix can be found. Each individual method is unique and depends mostly on the type of used solvent, the conditions in which the process is carried out and the number of auxiliary treatment affecting in particular the purity of the obtained extracts. The aim of the experiment was to compare the effectiveness of different techniques of extraction of PAHs from soil and sewage sludge. The scope of undertaken activities includes testing of the possibility to use four types of organic solvents (acetone, acetonitrile, methanol, and isopropanol) as PAHs extraction agents, and the study of the impact of additional treatments, such as sonification, filtration and SPE techniques on efficiency of sample preparation process. On the basis of obtained results, it can be stated that the highest efficiency of extraction of PAHs from soil can be achieved by using acetonitrile. In the case of sewage sludge the highest extraction efficiency was achieved in the methodology with use of acetone as extraction agent. The use of ultrasonic extraction technology combined with filtration and SPE methods allows to achieve high efficiency in isolation of PAHs from soil and sewage sludge.