Improvement on Simultaneous Determination of Cr(III) and Cr(VI) by Capillary Electrophoresis and Chemiluminescence Detection

Chromiumexistsindifferentoxidationstatesingroundwater,industrialwastewater,seawater,andsoilofourenvironment1,2.Chromium(III)isanessentialtraceelementforhumans,requiredforthemaintenanceofnormalglucose,cholesterol,andfattyacidmetabolism.Ontheotherhand,watersolublechromium(VI),intheformCr2O72-orCrO42-,ishighlyirritatingandtoxictohumansandanimals3.Itsacutetoxiceffectsincludeanimmediatecardiovascularshockandlatereffectsonkidney,liver,andblood-formingorgans.Therefore,itisnecessaryforriskassessme…     

Separation of Cr(III) and Cr(VI) using melamine-formaldehyde resin and determination of both species in water by FAAS

A method is described for the determination of Cr(VI) and total chromium by FAAS. Cr(VI) is separated from Cr(III) by adsorption on melamine-formaldehyde resin. After elution of Cr(VI) with 0.1 mol/l NaAc solution, it is analysed by FAAS. Total chromium is determined by FAAS after conversion of Cr(III) to Cr(VI) by oxidation with hydrogen peroxide, total Cr(VI) is concentrated as above. If the total concentration of chromium is sufficient, the determination can be directly made by FAAS. Cr(III) can then be calculated by subtracting Cr(VI) from the total Cr. This method was successfully applied to the determination of chromium in lake water.     

Speciated isotope dilution analysis of Cr(III) and Cr(VI) in water by ICP-DRC-MS

An isotope dilution method has been developed for the speciation analysis of chromium in natural waters which accounts for species interconversions without the requirement of a separation instrument connected to the mass spectrometer. The method involves (i) in-situ spiking of the sample with isotopically enriched chromium species; (ii) separation of chromium species by precipitation with iron hydroxide; (iii) careful measurement of isotope ratios using an inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer (ICP-MS) with a dynamic reaction cell (DRC) to remove isobaric polyatomic interferences. The method detection limits are 0.4 μg L⁻¹ for Cr(III) and 0.04 μg L⁻¹ for Cr(VI). The method is demonstrated for the speciation of Cr(III) and Cr(VI) in local nullah and synthetically spiked water samples. The percentage of conversion from Cr(III) to Cr(VI) increased from 5.9% to 9.3% with increase of the concentration of Cr(VI) and Cr(III) from 1 to 100 μg L⁻¹, while the reverse conversion from Cr(VI) to Cr(III) was observed within a range between 0.9% and 1.9%. The equilibrium constant for the conversion was found to be independent of the initial concentrations of Cr(III) and Cr(VI) and in the range of 1.0 (at pH 3) to 1.8 (at pH 10). The precision of the method is better than that of the DPC method for Cr(VI) analysis, with the added bonuses of freedom from interferences and simultaneous Cr(III) determination.     

Cloud point extraction for high-performance liquid chromatographic speciation of Cr(III) and Cr(VI) in aqueous solutions

Cloud point extraction (CPE) was applied as a preconcentration step for HPLC speciation of chromium in aqueous solutions. Simultaneous preconcentration of Cr(III) and Cr(VI) in aqueous solutions was achieved by CPE with diethyldithiocarbamate (DDTC) as the chelating agent and Triton X-114 as the extractant. Baseline separation of the DDTC chelates of Cr(III) and Cr(VI) was realized on a RP-C18 column with the use of a mixture of methanol-water-acetonitrile (65:21:14, v/v) buffered with 0.05 M NaAc-HAc solution (pH 3.6) as the mobile phase at a flow rate of 1.0 ml min(-1). The precision (R.S.D.) for eight replicate injections of a mixture of 100 microg l(-1) of Cr(III) and Cr(VI) were 0.6 and 0.5% for the retention time, 4.1 and 4.6% for the peak area measurement, respectively. The concentration factor, which is defined as the concentration ratio of the analyte in the final diluted surfactant-rich extract ready for HPLC separation and in the initial solution, was 65 for Cr(III) and 19 for Cr(VI). The linear concentration range was from 50 to 1000 microg l(-1) for Cr(III) and 50-2000 microg l(-1) for Cr(VI). The detection limits of Cr(III) and Cr(VI) were 3.4 and 5.2 microg l(-1), respectively. The developed method was applied to the speciation of Cr(III) and Cr(VI) in snow water, river water, seawater and wastewater samples.     

Determination of Cr3+, CrO42-, and Cr2O72- in environmental matrixes by high-performance liquid chromatography with diode-array detection (HPLC-DAD)

A high-performance liquid chromatographic method with diode array detection (HPLC-DAD), based on chelation with ammonium pyrrolidinedithiocarbamate (APDC), has been developed for the determination of chromium species. Determination of Cr3+, CrO42-, and Cr2O72- was performed for standards and synthetic environmental matrixes. This method is robust, rugged, and can be used for rapid routine determination of chromium species with high precision and reliability. Sample pretreatment is simple. The method is capable of discriminating not only between Cr(III) and Cr(VI) but also between the chemical forms of Cr(VI) - CrO42- and Cr2O72-. By analysis of numerous samples the method has been shown to be selective, sensitive, and free from matrix interference, which is crucial for the determination of chromium species in difficult-to-analyze environmental matrixes. This method has been validated by means of an interlaboratory study. Although different speciation techniques were used during this study, there was good agreement between results from the two laboratories. The method detection limits were 7 and 4 mg L(-1) for Cr3+ and Cr2O72-, respectively. Recoveries of the analytes from spiked samples were 98% and 100% for Cr3+ and Cr2O72-, respectively. Both were based on a 10-mL sample volume spiked with 0.4 mg L(-1) chromium.     

Speciation of Cr(III) and Cr(VI) by Means of Melamine-Urea-Formaldehyde Resin and FAAS

 A method is described for the quantitative preconcentration and separation of trace chromium in water by adsorption on melamine-urea-formaldehyde resin. Cr(VI) is enriched from aqueous solutions on the resin. After elution the Cr(VI) is determined by FAAS. The capacity of the resin is maximal at ∼ pH 2. Total chromium can be determined by the method after oxidation of Cr(III) to Cr(VI) by hydrogen peroxide. The relative standard deviations (10 replicate analyses) for 10 mg/L levels of Cr(VI), Cr(III) and total chromium were 1.5, 3.5 and 2.8% respectively. The procedure has been applied to the determination and speciation of chromium in lake water, tap water and chromium-plating baths.     

Speciation of chromium by selective separation and preconcentration of Cr(III) on an immobilized nanometer titanium dioxide microcolumn

Nanometer titanium dioxide immobilized on silica gel (immobilized nanometer-scale TiO2 particles) was prepared by a sol-gel method and characterized by X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy. The adsorptive behavior of Cr(III) and Cr(VI) on immobilized nanometer TiO2 was assessed. Cr(III) was selectively sorbed on immobilized nanometer TiO2 in the pH range of 7-9, while Cr(VI) was found to remain in solution. A sensitive and selective method has been developed for the speciation of chromium in water samples using an immobilized nanometer TiO2 microcolumn and inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry. Under optimized conditions (pH 7.0, flow rate 2.0 mL/min), Cr(III) was retained on the column, then eluted with 0.5 mol/L HNO3 and determined by ICP-AES. Total chromium was determined after the reduction of Cr(VI) to Cr(III) by ascorbic acid. The adsorption capacity of immobilized nanometer TiO2 for Cr(III) was found to be 7.04 mg/g. The detection limit for Cr(III) was 0.22 ng/mL and the RSD was 3.5% (n = 11, c = 100 ng/ mL) with an enrichment factor of 50. The proposed method has been applied to the speciation of chromium in water samples with satisfactory results.     

Simultaneous determination of Cr(III)-EDTA and Cr(VI) by ion interaction chromatography using a C18 column

The simultaneous determination of Cr(III) and Cr(VI) by ion interaction chromatography has been investigated. The mobile phase consisted of a 5 mM octylammonium orthophosphate at pH 4.0 with 35% (v/v) MeOH. The Nucleosil-100, C18 (5 microm, 250 x 4.6 mm) was used as the separating column and the component was detected at 200 nm. The separation of Cr(III) and Cr(VI) was based on anionic interaction. Since the Cr(III) did not exist as an anionic form like the Cr(VI) (Cr2O7(2-)) presented at the optimum condition, Cr(II) was firstly reacted with EDTA (1:40 mole ratio) to form the anionic complex prior to injecting into the chromatographic system. The characteristics of the method for separation of Cr(III)-EDTA and Cr(VI) were satisfactory. The wide linear range (0.3-50.0 mg l(-1)) was achieved. The repeatabilities (%R.S.D.) calculated from peak areas were 0.49% and 0.14%, detection limit (signal to noise ratio of 3) of 0.02 mg l(-1) and 0.3 mg l(-1) were obtained and the average of percent recoveries were found to be 98.5% and 99.6% for Cr(III) and Cr(VI), respectively.     

Speciation Analysis of Cr(III) and Cr(VI) after Solid Phase Extraction Using Modified Magnetite Nanoparticles

A new solid phase extraction (SPE) method has been developed for the speciation of Cr(III) and Cr(VI). This method is based on the adsorption of Cr(VI) on modified alumina‐coated magnetite nanoparticles (ACMNPs). Total chromium in different samples was determined as Cr(VI) after oxidation of Cr(III) to Cr(VI) using H₂O₂. The chromium concentration has been determined by flame atomic absorption spectrometric (FAAS) technique and amount of Cr(III) was calculated by substracting the concentration of Cr(VI) from total chromium concentration. The effect of parameters such as pH, amount of adsorbent, contact time, sample volume, eluent type, H₂O₂ concentration and cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) concentration as modifier on the quantitative recovery of Cr(VI) were investigated. Under the optimal experimental conditions, the preconcentration factor, detection limit, linear range and relative standard deviation (RSD) of Cr(VI) were 140 (for 350 mL of sample solution), 0.083 ng mL^?1, 0.1‐10.0 ng mL^?1 and 4.6% (for 5.0 ng mL^?1, n = 7), respectively. This method avoided the time‐consuming column‐passing process of loading large volume samples in traditional SPE through the rapid isolation of CTAB@ACMNPs with an adscititious magnet. The proposed method was successfully applied to the determination and speciation of chromium in different water and wastewater samples and suitable recoveries were obtained.     

Speciation of Cr(III) and Cr(VI) in environmental samples by using coprecipitation with praseodymium(III) hydroxide and determination by flame atomic absorption spectrometry

A speciation procedure has been established for the flame atomic absorption spectrometric determination of Cr(III) and Cr(VI) based on coprecipitation of Cr(III) by using praseodymium(III) hydroxide (Pr(OH)₃) precipitate. In the presented system, Cr(III) was quantitatively (>95%) recovered at the pH range of 10.0?C12.0 on Pr(III) hydroxide, while the recoveries of Cr(VI) were below 10%. The method was applied to the determination of the total chromium after reduction of Cr(VI) to Cr(III) by using hydroxylamine hydrochloride. The concentration of Cr(VI) is calculated by difference of total chromium and Cr(III) levels. The analytical parameters including pH of the aqueous medium, amount of Pr(III), centrifugation speed, sample volume were optimized. The influences of matrix ions were also investigated. The method was validated by the analysis of TMDA 70 fortified lake water certified reference material. The method was applied to the speciation of chromium in water samples.     

Separation of Cr(III) and Cr(VI) in river and reservoir water with 8-hydroxyquinoline immobilized polyacrylonitrile fiber for determination by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry

A rapid and simple method has been developed for the separation of chromium (III) and Cr(VI) species in river and reservoir water. Chromium (III) can be chelated with 8-hydroxyquinoline immobilized polyacrylonitrile (PAN) fiber, whereas Cr(VI) cannot. Chelated Cr(III) can be eluted with 2 mol l(-1) HCl-0.1 mol l(-1) HNO(3). Cr(VI) in the filtrate and Cr(III) in the eluant were determined by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. The effect of pH, sample flow rate, eluant type and its volume on the concentration effectiveness of Cr(III) was investigated. The recommended method has been applied for the separation and determination of Cr(III) and Cr(VI) in river and reservoir water. The results indicated that the recovery of each individual Cr species ranged from 96 to 107% and the R.S.D. were found to be <10% at the level of ng ml(-1). The effect of HNO(3) added in the sampling procedure was also evaluated.     

The complexation of Cr(III) and Cr(VI) with flavones in micellar media and its use for the spectrophotometric determination of chromium

The complexation of chromium by different flavonoid dyes in micellar media has been studied, in particular the reaction between chromium and quercetin. Micellar effects, the reaction pathway proposed and the application of the method to the determination of Cr(VI) and Cr(VI) + Cr(III) mixtures are discussed.     

Cr(III)/Cr(VI) speciation in aerosol particles by extractive separation and thermal ionization isotope dilution mass spectrometry

 An isotope dilution mass spectrometric (IDMS) method, using the formation of positive thermal ions, was developed for Cr(III) and Cr(VI) speciation in aerosol particles. Cr(III) and Cr(VI) spike species, enriched in ⁵³Cr, were applied for the isotope dilution step. After leaching of filter collected aerosol samples by an alkaline solution at pH 13, species separation was carried out by extraction with a liquid anion exchanger in methyl isobutyl ketone. Cr(VI) in the organic phase was re-extracted into an ammoniacal solution and chromium was then isolated from both fractions of species by electrodeposition. Detection limits of 30 pg/m³ for Cr(III) and of 8 pg/m³ for Cr(VI) were achieved in atmospheric aerosols for volumes of air samples of about 120 m³. These low detection limits allowed the determination of chromium species in continental aerosol particles in dependence on different seasons. The Cr(III) /Cr(VI) ratio was always found to be about 0.3 whereas dust from soil erosion, which is probably the primary source of chromium in the atmosphere, showed higher ratios. This indicates that chromium is oxidized in the atmosphere. The accuracy of the method was demonstrated in two interlaboratory comparisons of Cr(VI) determinations in welding dust samples. The IDMS method also contributed to the certification of a corresponding standard reference material organized by the Standard Reference Bureau of the European Union. Chromium speciation, including the determination of elemental chromium Cr(0), was carried out in aerosols of different welding processes for stainless steel. These analyses showed distinct differences in the distribution of chromium species in the welding process and can be used as an exact calibration method for routine methods in this important field of monitoring corresponding working places. Received: 19 August 1996/Revised: 24 September 1996/Accepted: 28 September 1996     

Amperometric Determination of Cr(III) and Cr(VI) by Flow Injection Analysis

Speciation of Cr(III) and Cr(VI) can be attained by flow injection analysis with amperometric detection. Cr(VI) is reduced in an acidic medium to Cr(III) with a glassy carbon electrode at —0.1 V vs. Ag/AgCl and the current is recorded. Cr(III) is oxidised on-line to Cr(VI) with alkaline hydrogen peroxide solution. From the difference of the total chromium and Cr(VI), the amount of Cr(III) was obtained. A linear calibration curve for Cr(VI) was obtained for the concentration ranges 0.01-5.0ppm of Cr(VI) and we have calculated the limit of determination to be about 0.5ppb. We have studied the degree of reproducibility obtained using the solid electrodes under various conditions. The influence of flow rate, coil length, interfenences and the extent of reaction were studied.     

Speciation of Cr(III) and Cr(VI) in Environmental Samples after Solid Phase Extraction on Amberlite XAD–2000

A method for speciation of Cr(III) and Cr(VI) in real samples has been developed. Cr(VI) has been separated from Cr(III) and preconcentrated as its pyrrolidinedithiocarbamate (APDC) complex by using a column containing Amberlite XAD–2000 resin and determined by FAAS. Total chromium has also been determined by FAAS after conversion of Cr(III) to Cr(VI) by oxidation with KMnO₄. Cr(III) has been calculated by subtracting Cr(VI) from the total. The effect of pH, flow‐rate, adsorption and batch capacity and effect of various metal cations and salt anions on the sorption onto the resin were investigated. The adsorption is quantitative in the pH range of 1.5–2.5, and Cr(VI) ion was desorbed by using H₂SO₄ in acetone. The recovery of Cr(VI) was 97 ± 4 at a 95% confidence level. The highest preconcentration factor was 80 for a 200 mL sample volume. The adsorption and batch capacity of sorbent were 7.4 and 8.0 mg g^?1 Cr(VI), respectively, and loading half time was 5.0 min. The detection limit of Cr(VI) is 0.6 μg/L. The procedure has been applied to the determination and speciation of chromium in stream water, tap water, mineral spring water and spring water. Also, the proposed method was applied to total chromium preconcentration in microwave digested moss and rock samples with satisfactory results. The developed method was validated with CRM‐TMDW‐500 (Certified Reference Material Trace Metals in Drinking Water) and BCR‐CRM 144R s (Certified Reference Material Sewage Sludge, Domestic Origin) and the results obtained were in good agreement with the certified values. The relative standard deviations were below 6%.     

Separation and speciation of Cr(III) and Cr(VI) with Saccharomyces cerevisiae immobilized on sepiolite and determination of both species in water by FAAS

A rapid, sensitive and accurate method for the separation, preconcentration and determination of Cr(III) and Cr(VI) in water samples is described. Chromium species can be separated by biosorption on Saccharomyces cerevisiae immobilized on sepiolite and determined by flame atomic absorption spectrometry (FAAS). The optimum conditions for separation and preconcentration (pH, bed height, flow rate and volume of sample solution) were evaluated. Recovery of the chromium was 96.3+/-0.2% at 95% confidence level. The breakthrough capacity of the adsorbent was found as 228 mumol g(-1) for Cr(III). The proposed method was applied successfully to the determination of Cr(III) and Cr(VI) in spiked and river water samples.     

Coulometric Determination of Chromium(VI) and Copper(II) Present Simultaneously

It was shown that chromium(VI) can be determined by coulometry at a Pt electrode in HNO₃and H₂SO₄solutions. A procedure for the determination of 1–4 mg of chromium in 0.5–1 M HNO₃solutions by controlled-potential coulometry with RSD = 0.2% was developed. It was demonstrated that the degree of the reduction of Cr(VI) to Cr(III) reached 99% (RSD = 0.5%) in the determination of chromium by coulometry at a slow potential sweep (v= 1–2 mV/s) in HNO₃solutions. A procedure was proposed for the determination of Cr(VI) and Cu(II) simultaneously present in 0.25–0.5 M H₂SO₄solutions by controlled-potential coulometry with RSD = 0.3%.     

Preconcentration and speciation of chromium using a melamine based polymeric sequestering succinic acid resin: its application for Cr(VI) and Cr(III) determination in wastewater

A new melamine based polymeric sequestering resin was prepared for preconcentration and separation of hexavalent chromium from water, and its sequestering action was investigated. The water-insoluble, cross-linked sequestering resin was formed by reaction with bromosuccinic acid and cross-linking of melamine. The active sequestering group on the resin is NH-(Succinic acid) or salt thereof. The resulting chelating resin was characterized by infrared spectra. The newly prepared resin quantitatively retained Cr(VI) at pH 2.0-4.0 when the flow rate was maintained between 1 and 5 ml min⁻¹. The retained Cr(VI) was instantaneously eluted with 25 ml of 0.1 M NaOH. The chromium species were determined by a flame atomic absorption spectrometer. The limits of detection for Cr(VI) and Cr(III) were found to be 5.3 and 4.2 μg l⁻¹, respectively. The precision and accuracy of the proposed procedure was checked by the use synthetic and reference steel samples. The established preconcentration method was successfully applied to the determination and selective separation of Cr(VI) in electroplating industry wastewater. Total concentrations determined by the spectrophotometric method (110.3±0.6 g l⁻¹ Cr(VI) and 1.2±0.3 g l⁻¹ Cr(III)) are compared with those found by FAAS and the obtained results (110.4±1.8 g l⁻¹ Cr(VI) and 1.4±0.5 g l⁻¹ Cr(III)) show good agreement.     

Determination of Cr(III) and Cr(VI) in industrial and environmental liquid samples by EDXRF method

A rapid, sensitive and selective procedure for determination of Cr(III) and Cr(VI) in environmental and industrial liquid samples via preconcentration with ammonium pyrrolidine dithiocarbamate (APDC) and determination by means of the EDXRF was described. The effect of pH in the range of 3-11 on the recovery of Cr(III) and Cr(VI) has been investigated separately and in combination of these two species. The influence of organic matter, carbonate species and elements V, Mn and Fe on the recovery of each chromium specie (separately/in combination) over whole pH range was also tested in order to simulate condition occurring in natural waters that usually contain certain amount of dissolved organic matter and carbonate ions. Cr(VI) and Cr(III) have shown different behaviors in reaction with APDC at different pH ranges and therefore it is possible to separate those two species. It was found that Cr(VI) creates complex with APDC only in the pH range from 3 to 5 with quantitative recovery (app. 98%) at pH 3, but there was no recovery of Cr(III) at that pH. On the contrary, in pH range from 6 to 11, reaction with Cr(III) and APDC reviled that the only reaction product is Cr(OH)₃ instead of the expected Cr(III)-APDC complex. All reaction products were characterized by IR spectroscopy.     

Application of double-spike isotope dilution for the accurate determination of Cr(III), Cr(VI) and total Cr in yeast

A method is presented for the simultaneous determination of Cr(III) and Cr(VI) in yeast using species-specific double-spike isotope dilution (SSDSID) with anion-exchange liquid chromatography (LC) separation and sector field inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometric (SF-ICP-MS) detection. Total Cr is quantitated using ID SF-ICP-MS. Samples were digested on a hot plate at 95±2 °C for 6 h in an alkaline solution of 0.5 M NaOH and 0.28 M Na₂CO₃ for the determination of Cr(III) and Cr(VI), whereas microwave-assisted decomposition with HNO₃ and H₂O₂ was used for the determination of total Cr. Concentrations of 2,014±16, 1,952±103 and 76±48 mg kg⁻¹ (one standard deviation, n=4, 3, 3), respectively were obtained for total Cr, Cr(III) and Cr(VI) in the yeast sample. Significant oxidation of Cr(III) to Cr(VI) (24.2±7.6% Cr(III) oxidized, n=3) and reduction of Cr(VI) to Cr(III) (37.6±6.5% Cr(VI) reduced, n=3 ) occurred during alkaline extraction and subsequent chromatographic separation at pH 7. Despite this significant bidirectional redox transformation, quantitative recoveries for both Cr(III) and Cr(VI) were achieved using the SSDSID method. In addition, mass balance between total Cr and the sum of Cr(III) and Cr(VI) concentrations was achieved. Method detection limits of 0.3, 2 and 30 mg kg⁻¹ were obtained for total Cr, Cr(VI) and Cr(III), respectively, based on a 0.2-g sub-sample.