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http://dx.doi.org/10.7857/JSGE.2015.20.4.051

Risk Assessment of Volatile Organic Compounds for Vapor Intrusion Pathway Using Various Estimation Methodology of Indoor Air Concentration  

Jung, Jae-Woong (Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Seoul National University)
Nam, Taekwoo (Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Seoul National University)
Nam, Kyoungphile (Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Seoul National University)
Publication Information
Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment / v.20, no.4, 2015 , pp. 51-65 More about this Journal
Abstract
Indoor inhalation of vapors intruded into buildings is an important exposure pathway in volatile organic compoundscontaminated sites. Site-specifically measured indoor air concentration is preferentially used for risk assessment. However, when indoor air concentration of VOC is not measured, the indoor air concentration needs to be estimated from soil concentration or measured soil gas concentration of the VOC. Some risk assessment guidance (e.g., Korea Ministry of Environment (KMOE) and American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) International guidance) estimate the indoor air concentration from soil concentration while other guidances (e.g., United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) and Dutch National Institute for Public Health (RIVM)) estimate it from measured soil gas concentration. This study derived indoor inhalation risks of intruded benzene in two benzene-contaminated residential areas with four different risk assessment guidances (i.e., KMOE, USEPA, ASTM, and Dutch RIVM) and compared the derived risks. The risk assessment results revealed that indoor air estimation approach from soil concentration could either underestimate (when the contaminant is not detected in soil) or overestimate (when the contaminant is detected in soil even at negligible concentration) the indoor air inhalation risk. Hence, this paper recommends to estimate indoor air concentration from soil gas concentration, rather than soil concentration. Discussions about the various indoor air concentration estimation approaches are provided.
Keywords
Risk assessment; Vapor intrusion; Volatile organic compounds; Indoor inhalation;
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