Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in waste waters and sewage sludge: Extraction and clean-up for HPLC analysis with fluorescence detection

A modified solid-phase extraction technique using sonication of the adsorbent material instead of the elution normally applied has been compared with two conventional liquid-liquid extraction procedures for the determination of the 16 EPA PAHs in municipal waste waters by means of HPLC coupled with fluorescence detection. Liquid-liquid extraction with cyclohexane proved to be the most efficient and simplest procedure. Clean-up of the waste-water extracts was not considered necessary, because of the high chromatographic resolution of the column and the selectivity of the fluorescence detector. Different organic solvents were also compared for ultrasonic extraction of PAHs from sewage sludge. The best results were obtained by use of acetonitrile. Clean-up of sewage-sludge extracts was not found necessary for accurate quantification of the major PAH components with fluorescence detection. The precision of the whole analytical procedure from extraction to the final determination of PAHs was satisfactory for both waste-water and sewage-sludge samples.