Microwave extraction technology ensures time-savings & ease of use for environmental testing laboratories

Ecosistem S.r.l. is a consulting company specializing in chemical and microbiological analysis both in terms of environment and workplace safety. The company’s mission is to be a point of reference for its customers for the complete management of environmental and safety requirements at work. It is able to perform high-resolution analyses and quantifications of dioxins and furans on both environmental and food matrices. Focusing on delivering high quality results, the lab performs about 60.000 analyses per year on any environmental matrix.

Their previous adopted extraction methods were Pressurized Liquid Extraction (PLE) and Sonication. They decided to switch to microwave extraction to improve their productivity and to get a quick-to-adopt method that could simplify operations and the overall preparation.

The new method was quick-to-adopt and its implementation has been easy and smooth. They started to move hydrocarbons, PAH and dioxins analyses to the microwave extraction method and they rapidly got consistent recoveries, obtaining even superior results when comparing them with Sonication and PLE.
Moreover, its ease of use and high throughput resulted in significantly lower cost per analysis. The microwave program had a total extraction time of 25 minutes ranging from 100-120°C and a cooling time of 15 minutes.
The unique material of vessels ensures homogeneous heating, increasing extraction efficiency even when different matrices are processed simultaneously. The contactless temperature control eliminates the need for a temperature probe and the use of disposable glass vials saves them labor and eliminates time spent for cleaning. The glass vials are inexpensive and consumable cost are negligible.