Abstract
The author compared the six pretreatment methods for the analysis of PCBs in marine sediment, including the warming alkaline treatment method. The results of the six pretreatment methods showed nearly equal total PCBs concentration, but the analysis for each homologue and each congener indicated that in the case of the warming alkaline treatment method, high chlorinated congeners decreased and the amount of low chlorinated congeners was significantly low compared with the other methods. The other pretreatment methods showed almost the same results for each homologue and each congener, and surrogate recoveries were good. In addition, it was found that the pressurized liquid extraction with toluene-room temperature alkaline treatment method and the Discovery®Ag-ION SPE tube-based treatment are effective for removing impurities, such as mineral oil, in the pretreatment.
