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CONCENTRATION OF TETRACHLOROETHYLENE IN INDOOR AIR AT A FORMER DRY CLEANER FACILITY AS A FUNCTION OF SUBSURFACE CONTAMINATION: A CASE STUDY
Citation:
EKLUND, B. M. AND M. A. SIMON. CONCENTRATION OF TETRACHLOROETHYLENE IN INDOOR AIR AT A FORMER DRY CLEANER FACILITY AS A FUNCTION OF SUBSURFACE CONTAMINATION: A CASE STUDY. T. Keener (ed.), JOURNAL OF AIR AND WASTE MANAGEMENT. Air & Waste Management Association, Pittsburgh, PA, 57(6):753-760, (2007).
Description:
A field study was performed to evaluate indoor air concentrations and vapor intrusion (VI) of tetrachloroethylene (PCE) and other chlorinated solvents at a commercial retail site in Dallas, TX. The building is approximately 40 years old and once housed a dry cleaning operation. Results from an initial site characterization were used to select sampling locations for the vapor intrusion study. The general approach for evaluating vapor intrusion was to collect time-integrated canister samples for off-site United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) Method TO-15 analyses. PCE and other chlorinated solvents were measured in shallow soil gas, sub-slab soil-gas, indoor air, and ambient air. The sub-slab soil gas exhibited relatively high values: PCE up to 2,600,000 ppbv and trichloroethylene (TCE) up to 170 ppbv. The αss (i.e., attenuation factor), the ratio of indoor air and sub-slab soil-gas concentrations, was unusually low: approximately 5 x 10-6 based on the maximum sub-slab soil-gas concentration of PCE and 1.4 x 10-5 based on average values.