Generation and Dispersion of Total Suspended Particulate Matter Due to Mining Activities in an Indian Opencast Coal Project

Abstract

The knowledge of ambient air quality plays an important role in assessing the environmental scenario of the region. The ambient air quality status in the vicinity of the mining activities forms an indispensable part of the Environmental Impact Assessment Studies. The quality of ambient air depends upon the concentrations of specific contaminants, the emission sources and meteorological conditions. The mining activities contribute to the problem of air pollution directly or indirectly (Trichy ,1996, Corti and Senatore, 2000, Baldauf et al., 2001 and Collins et al., 2001). Coal dust is the major pollutant in the air of open cast coal mining areas. (Kumar et al., 1994, Vallack and Shillito, 1998. and CIMFR, 1998) The primary source of fugitive dust at fully operational surface mine may include overburden (OB) removal, blasting, mineral haulage, mechanical handling operations, minerals stockpiles and site restoration (Appleton et. al. 2006). Major air pollutants due to opencast mining are total suspended particulate matter and respirable particulate matter whereas concentration of SO2 and NOX is negligible (Sinha and Banerjee, 1997, CIMFR, 1998, Banerjee, 2006, and Trivedi et. al., 2009). Transportation of materials is the major source of TSPM generation in the mining areas. The vehicle and haul road intersection has been identified as the most critical source producing as much as 70% of total dust emitted from surface coal mines (Muleski and Cowherd, 1987, Sinha and Banerjee, 1997, Ghose and Majee, 2002), while it was accounted to be 80-90% of the PM10 emission (Cole and Zapert, 1995). Maximal concentrations of particulate matter are generally occurred during winter and minimal in the rainy season.(Ghose and Majee, 2000, Tayanc, 2000, Reddy and Ruj, 2003). However, in certain urban areas maximal concentrations of particulate matters are also observed in summer season (Crabbe et al., 2000, Almbauer et al., 2001, Triantafyllou et al., 2002 and Triantafyllou, 2003). The dispersion of particulate matter follows the annual predominant wind direction of an area (Corti and Senatore, 2000, Baldauf et al., 2001 and Pandey et. al., 2008). Such a large amount of dust generated cause safety and health hazards such as poor visibility, failure of mining equipment, increased maintenance cost etc which ultimately lowers the productivity. A prolonged exposure to air borne dust may cause to damage of lung tissues of the miners which may further lead to pneumoconiosis or black lung disease. The maximum tissue damage is caused by the dust of 5 microns lesser sizes since such particles reach the alveoli of the lung (Peavey et. al, 1985). These air pollutants reduce air