Determination of vanadium in environmental samples by atomic absorption spectrophotometry

A simple and sensitive method for the determination of vanadium in water and air samples was established by using atomic absorption spectrophotometry with graphite furnace atomizer. The proposed method includes formation of a chelate complex by reacting vanadium with ammonium 1-pyrrolidine carbodithioate (APDC), extracting the chelate with xylene and measurement of the extract using atomic absorption spectrometry. The recoveries of added vanadium in various environmental samples were 98.5 and 104.4%, with a maximum coefficient variation of 9.5%. The sensitivity on this method is 10–50 times higher than previous methods. The detection limit is 0.5 μg/l.