High-Performance Liquid Chromatography Determination of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Soils Using the QuEChERS Technique

A method for the determination of 18 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in soils and sediments has been developed, combining the QuEChERS technique of analyte extraction with subsequent determination by HPLC with fluorescence and diode array detection (FLD/DAD). The limits of HPLC-FLD/DAD quantification of analytes were established, which amounted to 0.015 – 1.0 μg/kg while recoveries were 80 – 100%. The relative standard deviations of the repeatability and reproducibility of the PAHs determination method ranged from 1.5 to 10 and from 2.3 to 12%, respectively. The metrological characteristics of the proposed approach were compared with the corresponding values for the PAHs determination by gas chromatography – mass spectrometry also in combination with the QuEChERS technique: the quantification limits of a number of PAHs have been reduced by two orders of magnitude. An optimized scheme for the determination of PAHs in soils has been tested in the analysis sand samples collected on the Black Sea coast after the emergency flooding of fuel oil tankers. PAHs of various molecular weights were identified: 2-methylnaphthalene, phenanthrene, fluoranthene, pyrene were predominant among the light PAHs, while the heavy PAHs were primarily represented by triphenylene, chrysene, and benzo[b]fluoranthene. The total content of certain PAHs in the sand samples did not exceed 10 μg/kg, close to the level of background pollution.