Determination of trace vanadium (V) in seawater and fresh water by the catalytic kinetic spectrophotometric method

A new kinetic spectrophotometric method has been developed for the determination of vanadium (V). The method is based on the catalytic effect of vanadium (V) on the oxidation of weak acid brilliant blue dye (RAWL) by KBrO₃ using the citric acid as activation reagent. The obtained optimum conditions are: c (RAWL) = 1×10^?4 molL^?1, c (KBrO₃) = 3×10^?2 molL^?1, c (citric acid) = 9×10^?3 molL^?1, pH = 2.50, the reaction time being 7.0 min and the temperature being 25.0°C. Under the optimum conditions, the proposed method allows the determination of vanadium (V) in the range of 0–70.0 ng mL^?1 and the detection limit is down to 0.407 ng mL^?1. For standard vanadium (V) solution determination, the recovery efficiency is in the range of 98.5%–102% and the RSD ranges from 0.76%–1.25%. Moreover, it is demonstrated that most cations and anions do not interfere with the determination of vanadium (V) under the analytical condition. The new method was successfully applied in the determination of vanadium (V) in fresh water and seawater samples with satisfactory results. Vanadium (V) in the seawater samples from Qingdao offshore was determined using the method and the distribution of vanadium (V) was mapped. Compared with other instrumental analytical methods, the proposed method shows good selectivity, sensitivity, simplicity, lower cost and rapidity. It can be employed on shipboard easily.