Accelerated solvent extraction of herbicides in agricultural soil samples

This study was undertaken for comparing the standard Soxhlet procedure with an Accelerated Solvent Extraction (ASE), an extraction procedure already accepted by the US EPA that uses organic solvents at high temperatures and pressures. Soil samples contaminated by atrazine, terbuthylazine, alachlor and metolachlor herbicides and by their main transformation products were utilised for this comparison. The soil samples were selected on the basis of different textural characteristics and organic carbon contents. The obtained results showed good recovery efficiency of the ASE technique, reducing extraction times and organic solvent usage.