Concentration of Tetrachloroethylene in Indoor Air at a Former Dry Cleaner Facility as a Function of Subsurface Contamination: A Case Study

Abstract 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 yr old and once housed a dry cleaning operation. Results from an initial site characterization were used to select sampling locations for the VI study. The general approach for evaluating VI was to collect time-integrated canister samples for off-site U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Method TO-15 analyses. PCE and other chlorinated solvents were measured in shallow soil gas, subslab soil-gas, indoor air, and ambient air. The subslab soil gas exhibited relatively high values: PCE ≤2,600,000 parts per billion by volume (ppbv) and trichloroethylene ≤170 ppbv. The attenuation factor, the ratio of indoor air and subslab soil-gas concentrations, was unusually low: approximately 5 x 10-6 based on the maximum subslab soil-gas concentration of PCE and 1.4 x 10-5 based on average values.

[1]  Paul C. Johnson,et al.  Assessing the significance of subsurface contaminant vapor migration to enclosed spaces: site-specific alternatives to generic estimates , 1999 .

[2]  R. Sextro,et al.  Factors affecting indoor air concentrations of volatile organic compounds at a site of subsurface gasoline contamination , 1996 .

[3]  R. Ettinger,et al.  Chemical Vapor Intrusion from Soil or Groundwater to Indoor Air: Significance of Unsaturated Zone Biodegradation of Aromatic Hydrocarbons , 2002 .

[4]  Paul C. Johnson.  IDENTIFICATION OF CRITICAL PARAMETERS FOR THE JOHNSON AND ETTINGER ( 1991 ) VAPOR INTRUSION MODEL , 2002 .

[5]  Hal Levin,et al.  Volatile organic compounds in indoor air: A review of concentrations measured in North America since 1990 , 2003 .

[6]  P. Stolpman,et al.  Environmental Protection Agency , 2020, The Grants Register 2022.

[7]  Paul C. Johnson,et al.  Simulating the effect of aerobic biodegradation on soil vapor intrusion into buildings: influence of degradation rate, source concentration, and depth. , 2006, Environmental science & technology.

[8]  Paul C. Johnson,et al.  Heuristic model for predicting the intrusion rate of contaminant vapors into buildings , 1991 .

[9]  Thomas E. McHugh,et al.  Indoor Air as a Source of VOC Contamination in Shallow Soils Below Buildings , 2006 .

[10]  W. W. Nazaroff.  Predicting the Rate of 222Rn Entry from Soil into the Basement of a Dwelling Due to Pressure-Driven Air Flow , 1988 .

[11]  William W. Nazaroff,et al.  Technique for measuring the indoor radon-222 source potential of soil , 1989 .

[12]  R. Corsi,et al.  Characterizing exposure to chemicals from soil vapor intrusion using a two-compartment model , 2001 .

[13]  Andrew K. Persily,et al.  Analysis of Ventilation Data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Building Assessment Survey and Evaluation (BASE) Study , 2004 .

[14]  U. Epa,et al.  Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics , 2000 .