Mar 09 2021 Read 449 Times US EPA 3546 is a Microwave-Assisted Solvent Extraction (MASE) procedure for extracting water insoluble or slightly water soluble organic compounds such as organochlorine pesticides, semivolatile organics, PAHs, PCBs, phenoxyacid herbicides, phenols, dioxins, and furans from soils, clays, sediments, sludges, and solid waste. This method was formally included in SW846 in 2008 and most of these compounds have been identified by the US EPA as priority pollutants. MASE results in a rapid sample preparation technique that enables extractions with reduced amounts of solvents while working at higher temperatures and pressures. The process consists in a partitioning of the compounds of interest from the sample matrix into the solvent within a closed vessel. This accelerates the extraction process, yielding results equivalent to the standard Soxhlet method, but in a fraction of the time and using significantly less solvent.