Soxhlet extraction of organic compounds associated with soil water repellency

The study of compounds associated with soil water repellency usually involves removing organic material from a sample by some extraction procedure. An evaluation of the kinetics and efficiency of Soxhlet extraction using an isopropanol-aqueous ammonia mixture is given here. Increasing extraction time caused an increase in the mass of material extracted and a decrease in soil water repellency. The same compound types were detected by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry in all extracts, but their proportions varied with extraction time. In particular, the removal of alkanes from the soil sample was less rapid than that of more polar compounds.