Pressurized liquid extraction: A useful technique to extract pharmaceuticals and personal-care products from sewage sludge

We review the determination of pharmaceuticals and personal-care products (PPCPs) in sewage-sludge samples using pressurized liquid extraction (PLE). PLE is a sample-preparation technique that is increasingly used to extract moderately volatile and non-volatile organic contaminants from solid samples. We discuss the principal parameters to be optimized in PLE (e.g., solvent extraction, temperature, pressure and extraction time). We also examine the occurrence of PPCPs in studies where PLE is applied to sewage sludge.