This International Standard specifies a method for the determination of vanadium and nickel in liquid petroleum products. It may also be applied to semi-solid and solid petroleum products that are either liquefied by moderate heating or completely soluble in the specified organic solvent mixture. The method is applicable to products having vanadium contents in the range 5 mg/kg to 1 000 mg/kg, and nickel contents in the range 5 mg/kg to 100 mg/kg, although precision data have only been determined up to 100 mg/kg for vanadium and 60 mg/kg for nickel; higher contents may be determined by appropriate dilution.

Barium at concentrations above approximately 300 mg/kg interferes with the determination of vanadium, and iron at concentrations above approximately 500 mg/kg interferes with the determination of nickel. Other elements at concentrations above approximately 500 mg/kg may affect precision and accuracy due to spectral line overlap or absorption.