Antimony speciation in soils in areas subjected to industrial anthropopressure

The aim of the study was optimization of antimony speciation methodology in soils in areas subjected to industrial anthropopressure from traffic, metallurgy and recycling of electrowaste (e-waste) sources. Antimony speciation was carried out using the hyphenated HPLC-ICP-MS (High-Performance Liquid Chromatography- -Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry) technique for the determination of antimony species ((Sb(III), Sb(V), SbMe3). The extraction and determination of antimony species in soil was optimized and validated, taking into account the matrix effects. The best results in antimony extraction from soils were obtained using a mixture of 100 mM citric acid and 20 mM Na2EDTA. Ions were successfully separated in 6 minutes on Hamilton PRPX100 column with 0.11 μg/L, 0.16 μg/L, 0.43 μg/L limit of detection for Sb(III), Sb(V), SbMe3 , respectively. The oxidized antimony form (Sb(V)) predominated in the soil samples. The reduced antimony form (Sb(III)) was present only in a few samples, characterized by the lowest pH. The methyl derivative of antimony (SbMe3 ) was present in the samples with the lowest redox potential from the area around WEEE (Waste of Electrical and Electronic Equipment) treatment plant. The methodology of extraction and determination of three antimony species in soils was developed, achieving low limits of quantification and very good recovery. The research showed a large variation in antimony content in the soils impacted by type of industrial anthroporessure. The antimony content was the highest in the area of the WEEE treatment plant, indicating this type of industrial activity as a significant source of soil contamination with antimony