Nickel And Vanadium As Biodegradation Monitors Of Oil Pollutants In Aquatic Environments

A new analytical approach to quantify the disappearance of crude oil constituents during weathering and biodegradation processes in aquatic environment is reported. Flameless Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy was used to verify the hypothesis that any net loss of crude oil components corresponds to a proportional increase of nickel and vanadium concentration in the oil residue. In simulated field experiments, the rates of disappearance of Basra crude oil obtained by Quantitative Infrared Spectroscopy are in good agreement with those obtained using the new analytical approach.