Comparison of supercritical fluid extraction and solvent extraction of twenty-two organochlorine pesticides from eggs

The recoveries of twenty-two organochlorine pesticides spiked in egg samples were extracted by supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) using carbon dioxide and solvent extraction using acetonitrile were compared. The extracts were cleaned up with C18 and Florisil SPE columns. At 0.1 ppm spike level, the recoveries were 52 – 100% by SFE and 53 – 93 % by solvent extraction. The limits of detection calculated at 0.01 ppm spike level were 0.072 – 0.006 ppm for SFE and 0.06 - 0.006 ppm for solvent extraction. Both methods show improvement in sample preparation time and solvent consumption from the existing Soxhlet extraction method.