REMEDIATION
OF TOXIC VAPORS RESULTING FROM VENTING OF THE SOIL ATMOSPHERE CONTAINING
A CLOUD OF TOXIC VAPORS
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SOIL
VAPOR EXTRACTION: venting of the soil atmosphere to the outside atmosphere
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By
the earthDr!
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Venting
of the soil atmosphere into a structure was demonstrated on a previous
webpage (use the back button on your browser or click on the Table of
Contents to relocate yourself back to this page). Precipitation infiltrating
the soil surface percolates down through the soil pores displacing the soil
The figure to the left depicts a simplified version of soil vapor extraction. A blower is depicted in this figure. A blower is used to pull a vacuum and any toxic vapor clouds from the soil atmosphere. It operates similar to an exhaust fan. A vacuum is applied to the unsaturated zone to reduce soil atmospheric pressure below atmospheric pressure. When this is achieved, air will flow from the basement into the soils surrounding the basement. Air flow is reversed from that depicted on the previous webpage illustrating venting of the soil atmosphere into a structure. It is this reversal of air flow that will prevent vapor clouds from entering a basement or crawl space. Air flow is now from the basement into the soil atmosphere. It doesn't make sense to place an exhaust fan in a basement window and exhaust the basement air to the outside atmosphere, because this action would decrease the basement atmospheric pressure; thereby, further increasing the difference between soil atmospheric pressure and the basement atmospheric pressure driving more contaminated air from the soil atmosphere into the basement. |
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EMAIL:
earthDr@earthDRx.org |
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