Speciation of vanadium in oilsand coke and bacterial culture by high performance liquid chromatography inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry

A simple and sensitive method for the speciation of vanadium(III), (IV), and (V) was developed by using high performance liquid chromatography and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (HPLC–ICPMS). The EDTA-complexed vanadium species were separated on a strong anion exchange column with an eluent containing 2 mM EDTA, 3% acetonitrile, and 80 mM ammonium bicarbonate at pH 6. Each analysis was complete in 5 min. The detection limits were 0.6, 0.7 and 1.0 μg L−1 for V(III), V(IV), and V(V), respectively. The method was applied to coke pore water samples from an oilsand processing/upgrading site in Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada and to Shewanella putrefaciens CN32 bacterial cultures incubated with V(V). In the coke pore water samples, V(IV) and V(V) were found to be the major species. For the first time, V(III) was detected in the bacterial cultures incubated with V(V).