On-Site Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry (GC/MS) Analysis to Streamline Vapor Intrusion Investigations

Beckley, Lila; Gorder, Kyle; Dettenmaier, Erik; Rivera-Duarte, Ignacio; McHugh, Thomas E.

doi:10.1080/15275922.2014.930941

Cited by 25 publications

(37 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…To evaluate the overall utility of the CSIA sampling approach for vapor intrusion investigations, we applied CSIA alongside two other investigation techniques: (1) conventional vapor intrusion sampling including collection of sub‐slab, indoor, and outdoor air samples (ITRC , ) and (2) on‐site GC/MS analysis (Gorder and Dettenmaier ; Beckley et al ). All three approaches were applied over the course of 3 to 4 days in each building.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This has led to several research efforts undertaken to develop alternate approaches to indoor air sampling. These approaches include use of on‐site analysis and building pressure manipulation to distinguish between vapor intrusion and indoor sources of VOCs (Gorder and Dettenmaier ; McHugh et al ; Beckley et al ; Holton et al ). Another method to potentially distinguish between sources of VOCs in indoor air is compound‐specific stable isotope analysis (McHugh et al ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Utility of Compound‐Specific Isotope Analysis for Vapor Intrusion Investigations

Beckley¹,

McHugh²,

Philp³

2016

Groundwater Monitoring Rem

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Different types of data can be collected to evaluate whether or not vapor intrusion is a concern at sites impacted with volatile organic compound (VOC) contamination in the subsurface. Typically, groundwater, soil gas, or indoor air samples are collected to determine VOC concentrations in the different media. Sample results are evaluated using a “multiple lines of evidence” approach to interpret whether vapor intrusion is occurring. Data interpretation is often not straightforward because of many complicating factors, particularly in the evaluation of indoor air. More often than not, indoor air sample results are affected by indoor or other background sources making interpretation of concentration‐based data difficult using conventional sampling approaches. In this study, we explored the practicality of compound‐specific isotope analysis (CSIA) as an additional type of evidence to distinguish between indoor sources and subsurface sources (i.e., vapor intrusion). We developed a guide for decision‐making to facilitate data interpretation and applied the guidelines at four different test buildings. To evaluate the effectiveness of the CSIA method for vapor intrusion applications, we compared the interpretation from CSIA to interpretations based on data from two different investigation approaches: conventional sampling and on‐site GC/MS analysis. Interpretations using CSIA were found to be generally consistent with the other approaches. In one case, CSIA provided the strongest line of evidence that vapor intrusion was not occurring and that a VOC source located inside the building was the source of VOCs in indoor air.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Utility of Compound‐Specific Isotope Analysis for Vapor Intrusion Investigations

Beckley¹,

McHugh²,

Philp³

2016

Groundwater Monitoring Rem

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“…With the growing awareness of the problem, as evidenced by numerous studies of the problem in the past two years, e.g. (Beckley et al, 2014; Brusseau et al, 2013; Dawson, 2013; Goreham et al, 2014; Holton et al, 2015; Johnson et al, 2014; Johnston and Gibson, 2014; Jourabchi et al, 2013; Lowe et al, 2015; Marchant, 2014; Perron et al, 2013; Schumacher and Zimmerman, 2013; Verginelli and Baciocchi, 2014; Yao et al, 2013c; Yao et al, 2015), there remains a strong impetus to better quantitatively characterize vapor intrusion processes.…”

Section: Introduction and Review Of Transient Indoor Air Contaminamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Continuous daily measurements of indoor air contaminant vapor concentration (Beckley et al, 2014; Dawson, 2013) have now recently been obtained for houses in Utah (Holton et al, 2015; Holton et al, 2013) and Indianapolis (Schumacher and Zimmerman, 2013). The indoor air contaminant vapor concentrations were found to vary by over one order of magnitude between different measurements taken over the time scale of a week in both sites and in some cases up to three orders of magnitude variation was observed.…”

Section: Introduction and Review Of Transient Indoor Air Contaminamentioning

confidence: 99%

Impacts of changes of indoor air pressure and air exchange rate in vapor intrusion scenarios

Shen

Suuberg

2016

Building and Environment

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There has, in recent years, been increasing interest in understanding the transport processes of relevance in vapor intrusion of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) into buildings on contaminated sites. These studies have included fate and transport modeling. Most such models have simplified the prediction of indoor air contaminant vapor concentrations by employing a steady state assumption, which often results in difficulties in reconciling these results with field measurements. This paper focuses on two major factors that may be subject to significant transients in vapor intrusion situations, including the indoor air pressure and the air exchange rate in the subject building. A three-dimensional finite element model was employed with consideration of daily and seasonal variations in these factors. From the results, the variations of indoor air pressure and air exchange rate are seen to contribute to significant variations in indoor air contaminant vapor concentrations. Depending upon the assumptions regarding the variations in these parameters, the results are only sometimes consistent with the reports of several orders of magnitude in indoor air concentration variations from field studies. The results point to the need to examine more carefully the interplay of these factors in order to quantitatively understand the variations in potential indoor air exposures.

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“…; Mosley et al ; McHugh et al ; ESTCP 2012; Beckley et al. ; Guo ; Guo et al. ; Holton ; Holton et al.…”

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Comments and Corrections to: “The Emperor's Old Clothes: An Inconvenient Truth About Currently Accepted Vapor Intrusion Assessment Methods,” and “Emperor's Old Clothes Revisited,” Two Recent Editorials by Mark Kram

McAlary¹,

McHugh²,

Eklund³

et al. 2016

Groundwater Monitoring Rem

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On-Site Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry (GC/MS) Analysis to Streamline Vapor Intrusion Investigations

Cited by 25 publications

References 8 publications

Utility of Compound‐Specific Isotope Analysis for Vapor Intrusion Investigations

Utility of Compound‐Specific Isotope Analysis for Vapor Intrusion Investigations

Impacts of changes of indoor air pressure and air exchange rate in vapor intrusion scenarios

Comments and Corrections to: “The Emperor's Old Clothes: An Inconvenient Truth About Currently Accepted Vapor Intrusion Assessment Methods,” and “Emperor's Old Clothes Revisited,” Two Recent Editorials by Mark Kram

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