Validation of the GCMS method for the determination of polychlorinated biphenyls congeners in soil and sediment samples

This paper presents the method for monitoring 7 PCB congeners (PCB 28, 52, 101, 118, 138, 153, and 180) from the US EPA priority, which can also be applied for quantification of PCB sums (28 + 31). The separation of the PCB 28 and PCB 31 was also examined. The GC-MS technique with the HP-5MS column and the accelerated solvent extraction (ASE) were applied. The accuracy and precision of the method were assessed as the recovery ( R , %) of the spiked matrices and the relative standard deviation ( RSD , %). The obtained recoveries for 17 spiked soil matrices (at the concentration level of 0.05 mg/kg) ranged from 73.8 % to 100.6 % and for spiked sediments from 80.2 % to 106.5 %. The RSD values ranged between 9.7 % and 15 % for soil and from 23 % to 33 % for sediment. The calculation of R and RSD were performed both for individual peaks as well as the sum of PCB (28 + 31). The recoveries of the certified reference materials (CRM) for soil and sediment were also calculated. The river sediment CRM recovery was in the range from 23.3 % (PCB 28 + 31) to 60 % (PCB 118) while recovery for soil CRM varied between 51.6 % for PCB (28 + 31) to 100.6 % for PCB 101. The z-score of the soil and sediment CRMs were in the satisfactory range ±2 for most PCB congeners. It was not possible to separate PCB 28 and PCB 31 for CRM soil.