Soil Gas: Are Targets Being Missed?

Oral Presentation

Prepared by L. Marotta1, R. Provost2, A. Jacobson2, N. Eklund2, M. Peronto2
1 - PerkinElmer Instruments, 710 Bridgeport Avenue, Shelton, CT 06484, Shelton, CT, 06484, United States
2 - Pace Analytical Services, 1700 Elm Street, Minneapolis, MN, 55414, United States


Contact Information: [email protected]; 914-954-1779


ABSTRACT

The new EPA TO-17 sorbent tube and method with an analyte range of 1,3-butadiene, benzene, toluene, ethyl benzene, xylenes (BTEX) and the 16 EPA regulated polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in one air sample will now be tested at Soil Vapor Intrusion sites.

The current Soil Vapor Intrusion (SVI) tube for measuring analytes in soil gas covers the analyte range from chloromethane through pyrene. This new tube will enable the determination of analytes whose boiling point range is greater than pyrene extending to benzo(g,h,i)perylene and nC44.

This research provides “side-by-side” experiments, at soil gas investigational sites, using the current SVI tube and the new XRO-444 tube to determine if analytes above the boiling point of pyrene are not being recovered in soil gas by the SVI tube. Three sampling sites were investigated in these experiments.

Method parameters, sampling procedures, analytical parameters, reporting limits and comparison of the results from the site study using both the SVI and the XRO-444 tubes will be discussed.