Water Resources Research Act Program

Details for Project ID 2014KY230B

Development of passive sampling techniques for the characterization of subsurface contamination

Institute: Kentucky
Year Established: 2014 Start Date: 2014-03-01 End Date: 2015-02-28
Total Federal Funds: $5,000 Total Non-Federal Funds: $10,000

Principal Investigators: Kelly Pennell

Project Summary: We propose to develop a vapor flux sampling device, which we call a vapor flux meter (VFM), to evaluate vapor intrusion exposure risks. It will be self-enclosed and will include a permeable sorbent to retain chlorinated VOCs. The VFM will be placed in the headspace of a reservoir containing TCE or PCE spiked water. The experiment will be run for various times and the VFM will be extracted and the mass of chemical sorbed onto the sorbent will be measured using GC (according to Method TO-17) or by headspace analysis of the extract using a handheld photoionization detector (PID). The results of these experiments will be used to further develop VFMs to measure flux through porous media with varying moisture content.