Vapor Intrusion Monitoring

Vapor Intrusion

Vapor intrusion (VI) is a process by which chemicals in soil or groundwater – such as Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) – migrate to indoor air. Many VOCs can be toxic and/or odorous, which can cause adverse health effects and other safety hazards. Therefore, VI needs to be evaluated for impacts on indoor air, subsurface vapor migration, and subsurface vapor intrusion into buildings. Environmental agencies have issued guidance and protocols for VI assessment to address these concerns. Spatial and temporal variability are two common challenges with VI assessments using offline sampling methods.

The Vocus CI-TOF offers a turnkey solution for VOCs and odorous compounds analysis without any sample preparation or GC separation, leading to a real-time and fast data output. Real-time monitoring allows measurements of the spatial distribution of vapor concentrations, which may help to rapidly and efficiently identify vapor intrusion points.

This system also allows:

1. efficient in-situ sampling decisions such as where and when to collect samples using canisters or sorbent tubes

2. Measurements of VOC concentration changes due to changes in building pressure, weather conditions et al. that are affecting vapor intrusion processes.