Determination of trace vanadium in soil by cloud point extraction and graphite furnace atomic absorption spectroscopy

This work describes a new analytical procedure for trace vanadium by graphite furnace atomic absorption spectroscopy coupled to cloud point extraction (CPE) as the separation-preconcentration method. The CPE behavior of vanadium using methylene blue as complex agent and Triton X-100 as a surfactant was investigated systematically. Under the optimized conditions, the detection limit was 0.7 ng · mL⁻¹, and the relative standard deviation was 4.3% for vanadium (c = 50.0 ng · mL⁻¹, n = 5). The recovery of vanadium was in the range of 98.9–102.8%. The method was applied to the analysis of vanadium in certified reference materials and real samples. The results obtained were in good agreement with the certified values. Correspondence: Xiashi Zhu, Key Laboratory of Environmental Material and Environmental Engineering of Jiangsu province/College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225002, P.R. China