Integrated System for the Rapid Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons Extraction from Aqueous Samples and Their Consecutive Thermal Desorption Prior to Gas Chromatography Analysis

This paper describes for the first time the extraction followed by thermal desorption of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) spiked water samples in a microfluidic silicon device. Thanks to the integration into an original system composed of a micropump, microvalves, and an optimized thermal management, the entire protocol is automated and combines the extraction, the drying and the desorption in less than 25 min before sending the sample to a GC-FID system. Repeatable recovery yields have been determined for 1 μg/L spiked water samples and the analysis of PAHs in a natural water spiked sample has been demonstrated without loss of performance compared to purified water samples. Compared to other extraction techniques, this system has the advantage of reduced footprint, reduced energy consumption and no solvent use.