Creation of a Sub-slab Soil Gas Cloud by an Indoor Air Source and Its Dissipation Following Source Removal

Chase Holton; Yuanming Guo; Hong Luo; Paul Dahlen; Kyle Gorder; Erik Dettenmaier; Paul C. Johnson

doi:10.1021/acs.est.8b01188

Creation of a Sub-slab Soil Gas Cloud by an Indoor Air Source and Its Dissipation Following Source Removal

Chase Holton, Yuanming Guo, Hong Luo, Paul Dahlen, Kyle Gorder, Erik Dettenmaier, Paul C. Johnson

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

5 Scopus citations

Abstract

It is accepted that indoor sources of volatile organic compounds can confound vapor intrusion (VI) pathway assessment. When they are discovered during pre-sampling inspection, indoor sources are removed and air sampling is delayed, with the assumption that a few hours to a few days are sufficient for indoor source impacts to dissipate. This assumption was tested through the controlled release of SF₆ and its monitoring in indoor air and soil gas at a study house over 2 years. Results show that indoor sources generate subsurface soil gas clouds as a result of fluctuating direction in the exchange between soil gas and indoor air and that it may take days to weeks under natural conditions for a soil gas cloud beneath a building to dissipate following indoor source removal. The data also reveal temporal variability in indoor air and soil gas concentrations, long-term seasonal patterns, and dissipation of soil gas clouds over days to weeks following source removal. Preliminary modeling results for similar conditions are consistent field observations. If representative of other sites, these results suggest that a typical 1-3 day waiting period following indoor source removal may not be sufficient to avoid confounding data and erroneous conclusions regarding VI occurrence.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	10637-10646
Number of pages	10
Journal	Environmental Science and Technology
Volume	52
Issue number	18
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.8b01188
State	Published - Sep 18 2018

ASJC Scopus subject areas

General Chemistry
Environmental Chemistry

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10.1021/acs.est.8b01188

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title = "Creation of a Sub-slab Soil Gas Cloud by an Indoor Air Source and Its Dissipation Following Source Removal",

abstract = "It is accepted that indoor sources of volatile organic compounds can confound vapor intrusion (VI) pathway assessment. When they are discovered during pre-sampling inspection, indoor sources are removed and air sampling is delayed, with the assumption that a few hours to a few days are sufficient for indoor source impacts to dissipate. This assumption was tested through the controlled release of SF6 and its monitoring in indoor air and soil gas at a study house over 2 years. Results show that indoor sources generate subsurface soil gas clouds as a result of fluctuating direction in the exchange between soil gas and indoor air and that it may take days to weeks under natural conditions for a soil gas cloud beneath a building to dissipate following indoor source removal. The data also reveal temporal variability in indoor air and soil gas concentrations, long-term seasonal patterns, and dissipation of soil gas clouds over days to weeks following source removal. Preliminary modeling results for similar conditions are consistent field observations. If representative of other sites, these results suggest that a typical 1-3 day waiting period following indoor source removal may not be sufficient to avoid confounding data and erroneous conclusions regarding VI occurrence.",

author = "Chase Holton and Yuanming Guo and Hong Luo and Paul Dahlen and Kyle Gorder and Erik Dettenmaier and Johnson, {Paul C.}",

note = "Funding Information: The research was funded by the U.S. Department of Defense through the Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (SERDP). The findings and conclusions in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the view of the U.S. Air Force or the Department of Defense. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2018 American Chemical Society.",

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doi = "10.1021/acs.est.8b01188",

language = "English (US)",

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AU - Guo, Yuanming

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AU - Dahlen, Paul

AU - Gorder, Kyle

AU - Dettenmaier, Erik

AU - Johnson, Paul C.

N1 - Funding Information: The research was funded by the U.S. Department of Defense through the Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (SERDP). The findings and conclusions in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the view of the U.S. Air Force or the Department of Defense. Publisher Copyright: © 2018 American Chemical Society.

PY - 2018/9/18

Y1 - 2018/9/18

N2 - It is accepted that indoor sources of volatile organic compounds can confound vapor intrusion (VI) pathway assessment. When they are discovered during pre-sampling inspection, indoor sources are removed and air sampling is delayed, with the assumption that a few hours to a few days are sufficient for indoor source impacts to dissipate. This assumption was tested through the controlled release of SF6 and its monitoring in indoor air and soil gas at a study house over 2 years. Results show that indoor sources generate subsurface soil gas clouds as a result of fluctuating direction in the exchange between soil gas and indoor air and that it may take days to weeks under natural conditions for a soil gas cloud beneath a building to dissipate following indoor source removal. The data also reveal temporal variability in indoor air and soil gas concentrations, long-term seasonal patterns, and dissipation of soil gas clouds over days to weeks following source removal. Preliminary modeling results for similar conditions are consistent field observations. If representative of other sites, these results suggest that a typical 1-3 day waiting period following indoor source removal may not be sufficient to avoid confounding data and erroneous conclusions regarding VI occurrence.

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Creation of a Sub-slab Soil Gas Cloud by an Indoor Air Source and Its Dissipation Following Source Removal

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