Stephen Varisco | Authors

This study describes the recovery of compounds above the boiling point of naphthalene achieved by optimizing the thermal desorption chemistry for the determination of volatile organic compounds ranging from C3 to C26 in soil gas samples using Method TO-17. Figures of merit such as breakthrough, precision, linearity, and detection capability are presented, in addition to an evaluation of its real-world capability at sites with moderate diesel and semivolatile polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbon (up to pyrene) contamination, in the presence of high humidity. This research has provided a means to determine a more representative composition of soil gas.

This study describes the need to recover compounds above the boiling point of naphthalene by optimizing the thermal desorption chemistry for the determination of VOCs from C3 to C26 in soil gas samples using Method TO-17. Figures of merit, such as breakthrough, precision, linearity and detection capability will be presented, in addition to evaluating its real-world capability at sites with moderate diesel and semi-volatile polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbon (up to pyrene) contamination, in the presence of high humidity.