Journal of Pollution Effects & Control
Open Access

Abstract

Influence of Ambient Pressure on the Evaporation of Volatile Organic Pollutants (VOP) during Soil Decontamination: Case of the Trichloroethylene (TCE)

Samuel Ouoba, Salifou K. Ouiminga, Justin Zaida, Bruno Cousin, Moussa Sougoti and Jean Koulidiati

This article presents the results on the volatilization of the volatile organic pollutants (VOP) during decontamination process from the soil. The choice of TCE as a volatile organic pollutant is explained by the fact that it is relatively highly soluble in water, compared to other compounds, which excludes any possibility of adsorption of its vapors on the walls of the experimental device during testing. Its saturation vapor pressure very high (≈7700 Pa at 20ºC and nearly 12,000 Pa at 30ºC) facilitates its monitoring using a pressure transducer relatively less accurate and less expensive. The results obtained on the evaporation of TCE show a linear dependence with the pressure. The coefficient of volatilization is 3.2 times greater for an atmospheric pressure of 90 kPa than for a pressure of 100 kPa. This coefficient would be multiplied by 20 when the pressure passes from 100 kPa to 10 kPa.