Dry ice-originated supercritical and liquid carbon dioxide extraction of organic pollutants from environmental samples.

Packed in a high-pressure vessel and under calculated conditions, dry ice can be used as a source of carbon dioxide for supercritical CO(2) extraction or liquid CO(2) of organic compounds from environmental samples. Coupled with a fluid modifier such as toluene, dry ice-originated supercritical CO(2) (Sc CO(2)) achieves quantitative extraction of many volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and semivolatile organic compounds (SOCs) including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), n-alkanes, and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) from solid matrices. Compared to contemporary manual or automated supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) technologies, this novel technique simplifies SFE to a minimum requirement by eliminating the need of a high-pressure pump and any electrical peripherals associated with it. This technique is highly suitable to analytical areas where sample preservation is essential but difficult in the sampling field, or where sample collection, sample preparation, and analysis are to be done in the field.