FprEN 18261

Compost and digestate - Determination of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) by gas chromatography (GC) and high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) FprEN 18261

Publication date:   Oct 16, 2025

Scope

This document specifies a method for quantitative determination of 16 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) (see Table 1) in compost or digestate, using GC-MS, GCMS/MS or HPLC-UV-DAD/FLD covering a wide range of PAH contamination levels (see Table 1).
Table 1 - Target analytes of this document

The limit of detection depends on the determinants, the equipment used, the quality of chemicals used for the extraction of the sample and the clean-up of the extract.
This document contains decision tables based on the properties of the sample and the extraction and clean-up procedure used.
The method is applicable to the analysis of other PAH not specified in Table 1, provided suitability is proven by proper in-house validation experiments.
NOTE 1 When using fluorescence detection, acenaphthylene cannot be measured.
NOTE 2 This method has been validated in an interlaboratory study with specific products that were present on the market during the study (as included in Annex B, being composted bark (20 mm to 40 mm), biowaste compost (Rottegrad 3),green compost (Rottegrad 5,0 mm to 15 mm), solid digestate (centrifuged and dried, raw sieved 0 mm to 12 mm) and growing media blend 1 (white peat, green compost, wood fibre, lime, inorganic fertilizer)).

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