A novel microfluidic device for fast extraction of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) from environmental waters – comparison with stir-bar sorptive extraction (SBSE)

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are persistent organic pollutants renowned for their ubiquity in the environment and potential carcinogenicity. To verify compliance to the European Drinking Water Directive (98/83/EC) and Water Framework Directive (2000/60/EC), these compounds have to be monitored in environmental waters. Conventional laboratory analysis implies important costs and labour, and may lead to low sample representativeness due to sampling, transport and storage prior to analysis. To date, no portable equipment enables in situ PAH determination with adequate selectivity and sensitivity. To build a cost-effective and high-performance portable system, a microfluidic device for fast extraction of PAHs with low volume samples has been developed and tested by solvent desorption. Pre-concentration recoveries were evaluated by high-performance liquid chromatography associated with multi-wavelength fluorescence detection (HPLC-FLD). The operational parameters were optimised with 5 µg L−1 spiked ...