Abstract
An inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometric method for the determination of trace elements, i.e., calcium, gallium, phosphorous and vanadium in bauxite samples has been developed. The developed method was validated by determining several validation parameters which included linear range, limits of detection and quantification, precision, and accuracy. The method was found to be linear in the range of 0.01–0.25% for V
2
O
5
and P
2
O
5
, 0.001–0.01% for Ga
2
O
3
, and 0.01–2% for CaO with the coefficient of determination (
R
2
) obtained for these regressions higher than 0.990. The percentage recoveries of bauxite reference standard and spiked samples ranged from 90 to 99%. The detection limit values for Ca, V, P, and Ga were found to be 0.001, 0.0004, 0.003, and 0.002 mg/L, respectively, while the limits of quantification were 0.002, 0.001, 0.009, and 0.006 mg/L, respectively. The validated method was found to be rapid and reliable within the acceptable limit for the simultaneous determination of bauxite constituents, i.e., P, V, Ga, and Ca, and applicable for routine analyses in the laboratories.