Environmental context. Determining the bioavailability of organic contaminants in sediments is a critical step in assessing the ecological risks of contamination in aquatic ecosystems. Standardised sediment bioaccumulation tests using benthic organisms are often performed to determine the relative bioavailability of sediment contamination. Unfortunately biological methods are time consuming, expensive and organisms are often difficult to maintain in good health in a laboratory exposure system. Contradictory results have been reported in the last decade and factors that affect the behaviour of extractants need to be examined for a large range of sediments. A study was conducted to determine the bioavailability of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in sediment using worms and to compare the uptake by the biological samplers with mild solid/liquid extractions when exposed to unspiked low and highly contaminated marine and freshwater sediments.

Abstract. The purpose of this study is to evaluate different techniques for assessing the availability of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in contaminated sediments. This goal was achieved by comparing results from 28-day uptake experiments by Nereis virens and Lumbriculus variegatus with PAHs extracted by three non-exhaustive extraction methods using: n-Butanol (BuOH, 100%), an aqueous solution of hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin (HPCD) and a surfactant solution of Brij700 (B700). Our results highlight the importance of considering both the PAH level in sediments and the molecular size of PAHs when attempting to predict their bioaccumulation in a biological sampler like worms using a solid/liquid extraction method. The surfactant B700 solution was quite successful to predict PAH bioaccumulation when exposed to unspiked highly contaminated sediments (25–5700 μg g^–1). When low contaminated sediments (0.06–11 μg g^–1) were used, HPCD and BuOH were better extractants for estimating bioaccumulation whereas B700 appeared to be too mild an extractant for most samples. Our results illustrate the interest and difficulties in finding an adequate chemical predictor for PAH bioavailabilty, particularly because PAH concentrations and sequestration processes play a determining role in the quality of results. Because B700 is not expansive and extraction solutions are easy to prepare, an extraction procedure involving this surfactant is proposed as a reliable predictor for aged highly contaminated sediments.