Establishing a Relationship Between Passive Soil Vapor and Grab Sample Techniques for Determining Volatile Organic Compounds.
Abstract
A passive soil vapor and an in-vial sample handling and analysis method were compared for estimating volatile organic compound (VOC) contamination in the near-surface vadose zone. These two methods of VOC site characterization, although very different operationally, established very similar trends for trichioro-ethylene (TCE) contamination. The correlation (r2 = 0.944) of the results from these two methods shows a much better agreement than what has been reported between comparisons of in-vial methods (or solvent immersion) and conventional soil sample collection and handling methods often used for site characterization activities. The strong correlation between these two methods and from grab samples taken 15 cm apart indicates that this analyte is homogeneously distributed as compared to metals and semivolatile organic compounds. For contaminants such as TCE, soil vapor measurement technologies offer a promising means of estimating subsurface concentrations in locations were grab samples cannot be easily obtained.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 01, 1996
- Accession Number
- ADA318014
Entities
People
- Alan D. Hewitt
Organizations
- Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory