Soil-Vapor Survey on Soil-Remediation by EMPLEX Collector
Laboratory analytical results of 22 sets of hydrophobic adsorbent coils containing surface soil-vapor and two soil samples collected by conventional intrusive method from each boring location at two active dry cleaning facilities in the State of Illinois, U.S.A, were presented to evaluate the performance of soil-vapor survey. The most critical factor to determine the effectiveness of soil-vapor survey is the distance from the soil-vapor sampling device to the actual contamination, which is a function of soil porosity, permeability, primary lithology, and other geological and hydrogeological site-specific parameters. Also this factor can be affected by the history of contaminant-generating operations. The laboratory analytical results in this study showed longer drycleaning operation history (i.e., 50 years) and presence of fine sand at the beneath Site B allow the contaminants to migrate farther and deeper over a fixed time compared to Site A(i.e., 35 years and silty clay) so that the soil-vapor survey is not likely the most effective environmental site investigation method alone for Site B. However, for Site A, the soil-vapor survey successfully screened the site to identify the location reporting the highest soil concentration of chlorinated solvents.