INTEGRATING GREEN CHEMISTRY PRINCIPLES WITH ADVANCED ANALYTICAL TECHNIQUES FOR THE ANALYSIS OF PERSISTENT ORGANIC POLLUTANTS (POPS) IN SOIL AND SEDIMENT MATRICES

Abstract

Hazardous waste such as PCBs, DDT, and dioxins cause harm to the environment and human health due to their toxicity, resistance to degradation, and accumulation in the ecosystems. This paper uses green chemistry approaches and modern analytical methods 
in soil and sediment samples to determine and characterize POPs. The analytical method of this study, namely solid-phase microextraction (SPME) and supercritical fluid extraction (SFE), eliminates or greatly reduces the utilization of toxic solvents and Wastes. Several soil and sediment samples were collected from urban, industrial, and agricultural zones and analyzed for POPs using HRMS, LC-MS, and GC-MS. The study to address the research questions revealed that green chemistry-based methods were found to have substantial sensitivity in detecting POPs at conveniently comparable or higher than conventional techniques while using less than 10% of the conventional solvents and generating comparatively less waste. Combining green chemistry with today’s modern 
analytical approach is beneficial in environmental monitoring since it reduces environmental disturbance and costs, which is a healthier approach.