Supercritical Fluid Extraction – A Solution for the Extraction of PFAS in Environmental Samples

Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) in the Environment - Session 4
Oral Presentation

Prepared by R. Marfil-Vega, W. Hedgepeth, Y. Fujito
Shimadzu Scientific Instruments, 7102 Riverwood Drive, Columbia, MD, 21046, United States


Contact Information: rmmarfilvega@shimadzu.com; 410-910-0884


ABSTRACT

The study of the occurrence of PFAS in multiple environmental and food samples has captured the attention of scientist in the past years. As more LCMSMS methods are standardized for the analysis of PFAS and environmental laboratories get more familiar with them, it is essential to not forget a critical step in the workflow: the sample preparation. Current approaches for the analysis of PFAS in tissue and other solid samples are laborious, include multiple steps and cannot be easily automated. Supercritical Fluid Extraction (SFE) is an alternative for these methods that addresses the drawbacks mentioned above. In this presentation, we will demonstrate the suitability of SFE for the analysis of 18 PFAS in fish tissue. Extraction efficiency, reproducibility, and dynamic range will be discussed together with the automated workflow that was implemented for the analysis of PFAS in three types of fish.