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Appropriate control measure design by rapidly identifying risk areas of volatile organic compounds during the remediation excavation at an organic contaminated site

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Abstract

Many organic contaminated sites require on-site remediation; excavation remediation processes can release many volatile organic compounds (VOCs) which are key atmospheric pollutants. It is therefore important to rapidly identify VOCs during excavation and map their risk areas for human health protection. In this study, we developed a rapid analysis and assessment method, aiming to and reveal the real-time distribution of VOCs, evaluate their human health risks by quantitative models, and design appropriate control measures. Through on-site diagonal distribution sampling and analysis, VOCs concentration showed a decreasing trend within 5 m from the excavation point and then increased after 5 m with the increase in distance from the excavation point (p < 0.05). The concentrations of VOCs near the dominant wind direction were higher than the concentrations of surrounding pollutants. In contrast with conventional solid-phase adsorption (SPA) and thermal desorption gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (TD-GC/MS) methods for determining the composition and concentration of VOCs, the rapid measurement of VOCs by photo-ionization detector (PID) fitted well with the chemical analysis and modeling assessment of cancer/non-cancer risk. The targeting area was assessed as mild-risk (PID < 10 ppm), moderate-risk (PID from 10 to 40 ppm), and heavy-risk (PID > 40 ppm) areas. Similarly, the human health risks also decreased gradually with the distance from the excavation point, with the main risk area located in the dominant wind direction. The results of rapid PID assessment were comparable to conventional risk evaluation, demonstrating its feasibility in rapidly identifying VOCs releases and assessing the human health risks. This study also suggested appropriate control measures that are important guidance for personal protection during the remediation excavation process.

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Acknowledgements

Authors thank the School of Chemistry and Environmental Engineering of China University of Mining and Technology (Beijing) for providing laboratory facilities to complete this research work.

Funding

The authors would like to thank the National Key Research and Development Program (No.2020YFC1806502) and Science and Technology Program of Shenyang (23- 407-3-09) for financial support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology, Beijing, People’s Republic of China

    Jianli Jia, Ben Zhang, Shuyue Zhang, Fangtao Zhang, Huyang Ming, Tian Yu & Qingyun Yang

  2. College of New Energy and Environment, Jilin University, Changchun, 130021, People’s Republic of China

    Dayi Zhang

  3. Key Laboratory of Regional Environment and Eco-restoration, Ministry of Education, Shenyang University, Shenyang 110044, People’s Republic of China

    Dayi Zhang

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  1. Jianli Jia
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JJ and DZ designed the research and drafted the manuscript. BZ and SZ performed the sample collection and chemical analysis. FZ, HM, TY, and QY conducted the data analysis. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Jia, J., Zhang, B., Zhang, S. et al. Appropriate control measure design by rapidly identifying risk areas of volatile organic compounds during the remediation excavation at an organic contaminated site. Environ Geochem Health 46, 136 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10653-024-01905-8

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