The Automated Extraction of 40 PFAS Compounds from Tissue Samples

Automation & Innovation for Sample Preparation
Oral Presentation

Prepared by A. Stell, B. Liu
CEM Corporation, 3100 Smith Farm Rd., Matthews, NC, 28106, United States


Contact Information: [email protected]; 704-821-7015

ABSTRACT

There is increasing concern of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in our environment as a whole due to their persistent nature. More and more regulation regarding PFAS is being implemented for environmental matrices. The extraction of PFAS from environmental matrices, such as tissue, can be challenging given the complexity of the sample. Furthermore, the susceptibility to contamination and the low levels in which these compounds are present add to this challenge. The EDGE PFASTM is an automated extraction system designed for the extraction of PFAS from solid samples. In this study, the EDGE PFAS was used to extract 40 spiked PFAS compounds from ground chicken following EPA 4th Draft Method 1633 for extract cleanup and analysis. Ground chicken was used as the representative tissue sample, as suggested in the EPA method. The automated extraction was less than 10 minutes per sample and yielded acceptable recoveries and RSDs without carryover in the system. The effectiveness of the post extraction cleanup was also explored. Utilizing the EDGE PFAS system for extraction of ground chicken, which provides a filtered sample ready for analysis, acceptable recoveries and RSDs were achieved without any post cleanup. The EDGE PFAS is an ideal option for laboratories that want to automate their PFAS extractions of solid samples.