Speciation of vanadium in soil

A method for speciation of vanadium in soil is presented in this work. The sequential extraction analysis procedure of Tessier et al. for heavy metals was used for the vanadium separation. The method consists of sequential leaching of the soil samples to separate five fractions of metals: (1) exchangeable, (2) bound to carbonates, (3) bound to Fe-Mn oxides, (4) bound to organic matter and (5) residual. The leaching solutions of Tessier were used for the vanadium extraction, only for the residual fraction the HClO₄ was replaced with H₂SO₄. The optimum conditions for leaching of vanadium from soil (weight of sample, concentration and volume of extractants, time of extraction) were chosen for each fraction. A sensitive, spectrophotometric method based on the ternary complex V(IV) with Chrome Azurol S and benzyldodecyldimethylammonium bromide (ε=7.1×10⁴ l mol⁻¹ cm⁻¹) was applied for the vanadium determination after separation of V(V) by solvent extraction using mesityl oxide and reduction of V(V) using ascorbic acid. This method was applied for vanadium speciation in soil from two different regions of Poland: Upper Silesia (industrial region) and Podlasie (agricultural region). The content of vanadium in the fractions of Upper Silesia soil was respectively (in 10⁻³%): I, 3.39; III, 4.53; IV, 10.70; V, 8.70 and it was the highest in the organic fraction, indicating input by anthropogenic activities. The content of vanadium in Podlasie soil was clearly lower and it was (in 10⁻³%): I, 2.07; III, 0.92; IV, 0.69; V, 1.23. The concentration of vanadium in fraction 2 of both soils was less than detection limit of applied method. The total content of vanadium in the five soil fractions was in good correlation with the total content of this element in both soils found after HF-H₂SO₄ digestion. Analysis using the ICP-AES method gave comparable results.