Extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) produced by microorganisms have a key role in the sedimentary compartment, e.g. promoting aggregation and biostabilisation of sediment particles and increasing chemical reactivity at the water/sediment interface. Therefore, proper extraction methods are needed to study this EPS matrix. In this work, nine extraction methods based on physical (centrifugation, sonication), chemical (sodium hydroxide, sodium pyrophosphate, sodium tetraborate), and both chemical and physical (cation exchange resins, i.e. CER) treatments and their combinations, as well as the solid:liquid ratio used for extraction, were compared based on the quantity and compositions of extracted EPS. The organic carbon extracted was quantified and the nature of biochemical macromolecules (proteins, polysaccharides, and humic-like compounds) was evaluated using colorimetric methods. The amount of ATP was used as an indicator of cell lysis and showed contamination with intracellular materials in EPS extracted with chemical methods. Moreover, chemical extraction presented a large quantity of impurities due to non-removal of reactant salts by ultracentrifugation. For the nine methods tested, humic-like substances represented the main fraction of the extracted EPS, but for chemical extraction, the presence of humic materials from the sediment organic fraction was due to non-specific extraction of the EPS fraction. Therefore, chemicals methods are not recommended to extract EPS from sediment. Despite their low extraction efficiency, physical methods and CER, i.e. ‘soft’ extraction methods, are preferred using a solid:liquid ratio 1:40.

微生物产生的细胞外聚合物（EPS）在沉积室中起着关键作用，例如，促进沉积物颗粒的聚集和生物稳定，并增加水/沉积物界面的化学反应性。因此，需要适当的提取方法来研究该EPS基质。在这项工作中，基于物理（离心，超声处理），化学（氢氧化钠，焦磷酸钠，四硼酸钠）以及化学和物理（阳离子交换树脂，即CER）处理及其组合的九种提取方法，以及基于提取的EPS的数量和组成，比较了用于提取的固液比。定量提取的有机碳，并使用比色法评估生化大分子（蛋白质，多糖和腐殖质化合物）的性质。ATP的量用作细胞裂解的指标，并显示化学方法提取的EPS中的细胞内物质受到污染。此外，由于未通过超速离心去除反应物盐，化学提取呈现出大量杂质。对于所测试的九种方法，类腐殖质是提取的EPS的主要成分，但对于化学提取，来自沉积物有机成分的腐殖质的存在是由于EPS成分的非特异性提取所致。因此，不建议使用化学方法从沉积物中提取EPS。尽管提取效率，物理方法和CER较低，化学萃取由于未通过超速离心去除反应物盐而存在大量杂质。对于所测试的九种方法，类腐殖质是提取的EPS的主要成分，但对于化学提取，来自沉积物有机成分的腐殖质的存在是由于EPS成分的非特异性提取所致。因此，不建议使用化学方法从沉积物中提取EPS。尽管提取效率，物理方法和CER较低，化学萃取由于未通过超速离心去除反应物盐而存在大量杂质。对于所测试的九种方法，类腐殖质是提取的EPS的主要成分，但对于化学提取，来自沉积物有机成分的腐殖质的存在是由于EPS成分的非特异性提取所致。因此，不建议使用化学方法从沉积物中提取EPS。尽管提取效率，物理方法和CER较低，不建议使用化学方法从沉积物中提取EPS。尽管提取效率，物理方法和CER较低，不建议使用化学方法从沉积物中提取EPS。尽管提取效率，物理方法和CER较低，即“软”提取方法，优选使用固液比为1:40。