A simple, effective, and low-cost extraction method for environmental soil analysis

The Soxhlet extraction method is a EPA standard method for extracting organic environmental contaminants from solid matrices such as soils. Using this method, a soil sample is repeatedly washed with distilled warm solvent for 18 hours in a specially designed blown glass apparatus. This extraction step is followed by a concentration step, which is particularly useful for samples with low levels of contamination. However, for samples with moderate or high levels of contaminants, the Soxhlet method is less advantageous because the concentration step is tedious and unnecessary Furthermore, sample load and the degree of replication are frequently constrained by the availability of Soxhlet equipment. As a result, other extraction techniques with the capacity to handle a more flexible sample load were investigated.