A SCREENING METHOD FOR DETECTION OF HEXAVALENT CHROMIUM LEVELS IN SOILS

A rapid and low cost method to determine Cr(VI) in soils based upon alkaline metal extraction at room temperature is proposed as a semi-quantitative procedure to be performed in the field. A color comparison with standards with contents of Cr( VI) in the range of 10 to 150 mg kg(-1) was used throughout. For the different types of soils studied, more than 75% of the fortified soluble Cr( VI) were recovered for all levels of spike tested for both the proposed and standard methods. Recoveries of 83 and 99% were obtained for the proposed and the standard methods, respectively, taking into account the analysis of a heavily contaminated soil sample.