TMK Consulting Engineers invited RemScan to examine a potentially hazardous site where a hopper had been linked to a waste oil storage tank by a pipe suspected of leaking mixed hydrocarbons onto the soil below.
RemScan Spill Response Mode was used to provide timely measurements of Total Petroleum Hydrocarbon (TPH) concentration in the soil.
Sampling locations were chosen based on the area’s former use. As the hopper is situated at the top of a slope, leaking oil would run downhill. Samples were therefore collected directly beneath the hopper outlet, along the pipe’s route, and directly downhill from the hopper outlet. A sample was also obtained from the face of the retaining wall at the bottom of the slope.
Each soil sample was split in two for measurement by both RemScan and analytical laboratory. RemScan’s Portable Drying Unit (PDU) was used to dry the samples in less than 20 minutes.
Table 1 shows a comparison between laboratory GC measurements and RemScan predictions.