Approaches for accelerating sample preparation in environmental analysis

One of the target goals of present environmental analysis is shortening of the time required for the overall analysis due to the fact that a large number of samples require be analysed everyday. Because sample preparation is the most time consuming step of the analytical process, the primary goal should be to expedite this analytical step. In this sense, high temperature-high pressure of the extractant or solvent, and energy sources such as microwaves or ultrasounds can be used to accelerate sample preparation. Due to the enormous variability of samples in the environmental field (and dependence on the type of analyte, matrix, subsequent individual separation technique, if required, and detection) selection of the most suitable auxiliary energy for this step is not usually clear. In the present review, a description of the choices available for expediting sample preparation and their main applications in the environmental field is presented.