Abstract

The method for determining polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in soils using QuEChERS sample preparation and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) has been optimized and improved. Chromatographic separation conditions for 16 PAHs were refined using a 3.5 μm LC Column PAH (250 × 4.6 mm). Detection parameters for both fluorescence (HPLC-FLD) and diodearray detectors (HPLC-DAD) were optimized to minimize analysis time and cost while ensuring reliable quantification of naphthalene, acenaphthylene, acenaphthene, fluorene, phenanthrene, anthracene, fluoranthene, pyrene, benz(a)anthracene, chrysene, benz(b)fluoranthene, benz(k) fluoranthene, benz(a)pyrene, dibenz(a,h)anthracene, benzo(g,h,i)perylene, and indeno(1,2,3-cd)pyrene. Method performance was evaluated in terms of selectivity, linearity, limits of detection (LOD) and quantification (LOQ), and precision. Extraction efficiencies (R, %) were determined for several representative soil types commonly found in Ukraine. Average recoveries for individual PAHs were high, ranging from 65.90 % to 109.05 %. To further improve measurement accuracy, chromatogram interpretation, and peak deconvolution, particularly for highly contaminated samples, the Python package hplc-py was employed. Its open-source graphical interface allows the integration of additional functions, facilitating the development of user-friendly tools for chromatogram processing and ongoing method refinement.

Keywords: polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, soil, QuEChERS, HPLC-FLD, HPLC-DAD

Article language: Ukr.