Inorganic selenium speciation in groundwaters by solid phase extraction on Dowex 1X2

A Dowex 1X2 resin separation technique followed by analysis with atomic absorption spectroscopy was evaluated for the study of inorganic selenium speciation in groundwaters. After Se(IV) and Se(VI) were retained on the resin column, Se(IV) and Se(VI) were eluted out by 0.1 and 1 M nitric acid solutions. The method detection limit was 5.6 ng/L for both Se(IV) and Se(VI). Analysis of synthetic solutions consistently yielded more than 90% recovery of these two selenium forms with negligible cross-contamination. The results of spiked well waters show that this method can be applied at ultra-trace level of Se in groundwater and the interference of chloride ion can be neglected. Water samples collected from the monitoring wells in the Science-based Industrial Park, Hsin-Chu, Taiwan, were analyzed. Average dissolved selenium concentrations were 32.1 ± 17.6 ng/L. The proportion of Se(VI) to the total dissolved selenium ranged from 47.6 to 61.2% and an average of 53.8% in water samples analyzed.