ANALYTICAL-SCALE SUPERCRITICAL-FLUID EXTRACTION - A PROMISING TECHNIQUE FOR THE DETERMINATION OF POLLUTANTS IN ENVIRONMENTAL MATRICES

Analytical-scale supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) has become of increasing interest in the last few years because of its efficiency and rapidity concerning the extraction of organic compounds prior to separation and detection by chromatographic techniques. SFE has several advantages over classical solvent extractions such as faster analysis, better selectivity, higher efficiency and the absence of toxic solvent waste, which reduces safety hazards. This paper describes the principles of SFE and its coupling with chromatographic techniques; numerous environmental applications are also reported.