- P-ISSN 1225-0163
- E-ISSN 2288-8985
Water in the supercritical state (<TEX>$T{\geq}374^{\circ}C$</TEX>, <TEX>$p{\geq}221$</TEX> atm) is a good solvent for nonorganic pollutants, but it is extremely corrosive. Subcritical Water Extraction (SWE) is a very fast and an efficient method to extract nonpolar environmental pollutants adsorbed on the sediments and soils. Many nonpolar organic compounds are sufficiently soluble to be extracted to the water under subcritical conditions. Complete extraction of PCBs from the sediments and soils takes only a few minutes by applying SWE with the subcritical water at 50 atm and at <TEX>$260^{\circ}C$</TEX>.