Speciation of aluminium fluoride complexes and Al3+ in soils from the vicinity of an aluminium smelter plant by hyphenated High Performance Ion Chromatography Flame Atomic Absorption Spectrometry technique

The paper presents a new tool for the determination of inorganic speciation forms of aluminium: AlFn(3 − n)+, and Al3+ by means of the HPIC-FAAS. The proposed method has been successfully used for speciation analysis (qualitative and quantitative) of inorganic aluminium forms AlFn(3 − n)+ in soil samples. In order to isolate the most environmentally available fraction, 5 g of the sample was collected and extracted in deionised water (water soluble fraction) for 1 h using a magnetic stirrer. The determinations in a hyphenated technique system were performed for a number of prepared water extracts. Concentration determinations of particular aluminium forms were performed based on model studies and real samples. The separation of Al species with nominal charge of + 1, + 2, and + 3 required a run time of less than 4 min during a single analysis. Based on the analysis of water extracts of soil, it was obtained that aluminium forms elute in the following order: 1PA (first signal) — AlF2+ and/or AlF4−; 2PA (second signal) — AlF2+ and/or AlF30; 3PA (third signal) — Al3+. In order to confirm the occurrence of these forms a simulation using the Mineql program was conducted. The details of speciation analysis of aluminium fluoride forms by means of an HPIC-FAAS instrument equipped are presented. Interpretation of the speciation analysis of the water soluble fraction of soil samples is proposed, based on the separation during chromatographic run and calculated data by Mineql.