Environmental Technology & Innovation 21 (2021) 101274 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Environmental Technology & Innovation journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/eti Application of portable gas chromatography–mass spectrometer for rapid field based determination of TCE in soil vapour and groundwater Liang Wang a,b,∗ , Ying Cheng a,b , Ravi Naidu a,b , Sreenivasulu Chadalavada b , Dawit Bekele a,b , Peter Gell b , Mark Donaghey b , Mark Bowman c a Global Centre for Environmental Remediation, Faculty of Science, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW 2308, Australia b CRC for Contamination Assessment and Remediation of the Environment, University of Newcastle, Callaghan NSW 2308, Australia c The Department of Defence, Canberra BC ACT 2610, Australia article info Article history: Received 5 July 2020 Received in revised form 25 November 2020 Accepted 25 November 2020 Available online 27 November 2020 Keywords: Portable gas chromatography–mass spectrometer (GC–MS) Trichloroethylene (TCE) Retractable soil vapour sampling probe Three-dimensional (3D) mapping Solid-phase micro-extraction (SPME) Vapour intrusion abstract The application of portable chromatography–mass spectrometer (GC–MS) is restrained by its detection limits without the development of proper sample pre-concentration methods. The primary focus of this paper is to introduce a practical field measurement methodology for the analysis of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in soil vapour and groundwater using a portable gas (GC–MS) system for application to in situ assessment of vapour intrusion from VOC contamination. A solid-phase micro-extraction (SPME) technique was applied for sample pre-concentration before the GC–MS measurement. Practical in-field soil gas SPME sampling methods have been developed to optimise the SPME extraction efficiency to then ultimately improve the detection limits of portable GC–MS. An Australian site impacted by a chlorinated VOC, trichloroethylene (TCE), was the subject of the case study. To rapidly assess soil vapour samples in subsurface soil, in-house-developed retractable soil vapour sampling probes (SVSPs) were installed at the site in clusters at depths of 1 m, 2 m and 3 m below ground level at each sampling location. Use of the SVSPs for sampling enabled the generation of a three-dimensional map and distribution contours for TCE concentrations using the in situ measurement results of a portable GC–MS analysis for vapour intrusion investigation. The results of the portable GC–MS analysis were compared with the results from conventional USEPA methods, such as TO-15 and Method 8265 for soil vapour and groundwater samples, respectively. This work demonstrates that the developed methodology of using a portable GC–MS system has the capability for in-field quantitative analysis of VOCs for rapid contaminated site vapour intrusion assessment. © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Long-term exposure to volatile organic compounds (VOCs) such as trichloroethylene (TCE) potentially increases the risk of developing cancers in humans, including non-Hodgkin lymphoma, kidney or liver cancer (Dechellis and Yee, 2018; Kleinfelder Australia Pty Ltd, 2017). In some cases, TCE-impacted groundwater and vapour in the soil have migrated ∗ Corresponding author at: Global Centre for Environmental Remediation, Faculty of Science, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW 2308, Australia. E-mail address: Liang.Wang@newcastle.edu.au (L. Wang). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eti.2020.101274 2352-1864/© 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.