Evaluation Of The Vapor Presence In The Soil In Old Industrial Area Contaminated By Hydrocarbonates

Abstract

The contamination of soils and underground water by hydrocarbonates of petroleum derivatives tend to release vapors that migrate from the subsurface to the air, exposing, mainly the human being to the inhalation of compounds that can offer risk to their health. However this volatilization of this compounds can indicate possible sources of contamination in the subsurface. The agencies of environmental protection, like the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency), in the United States, and the environmental organizations in Brazil, like CETESB – Company of Technology of Environmental Sanitation, has recommended the evaluation of Volatile Organic Compounds – VOC, through the technique called Soil Gas Survey. This technique has been largely used by companies of environmental consulting. It consists on the verification of VOC anomalous concentration in the soil in-situ, by portable analyzers like FID, PID and Catalytic Oxidation, beaconing the investigation work This way the present work evaluated the presence of possible vapors in an old abandoned industrial area contaminated by BTEX and organochlorines, under the optics of the natural attenuation in course in the area.