Analysis of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Sediments, Sewage Sludges and Composts from Municipal Refuse by H PLC

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Abstract
The extraction of 6 selected PAHs, Fluoranthene, Benzo(b)fluoranthene, Benzo(k)-fluoranthene, Benzo(a)pyrene, Benzo(ghi)perylene and Indeno(1, 2, 3-cd)perylene has been improved by hot soxhlet extraction with hexane/acetone. Overall concentrations for sediments (Neckar) lie between 4.6 and 21.8mg/kg (mean value 8.6 mg/kg). The corresponding values for the other substrates are waste water 129–2504 (791) ng/kg; sewage sludge 2.2–20.4 (9.7) mg/kg; municipal refuse 0.06–187 (6.9) mg/kg and waste compost 10.7–173.4 (14.7) mg/kg. It can therefore be concluded, that in all sinks of PAHs (sediments, sewage sludge and municipal refuse) the content is roughly the same. The PAH pattern of sediments and sewage sludges is very constant for different sampling sites. In contrast organic municipal waste shows marked pattern variations. For waste water treatment plants a positive correlation between daily water input and PAH content could be shown. PAH pattern comparison shows decreasing in-homogeneity from municipal refuse over sewage sludge to river sediments.