Prediction and Analysis of Dust Dispersion from Drilling Operation in Opencast Coal Mines

Abstract

Dust is one of the most important air pollutants and is the major area of concern for coal mining industry, because opencast coal mining operations lead to the generation of large quantity of dust, which deteriorates the surrounding environment and the public health. Dust generation from several mining activities consists of PM2.5, PM10 and RespirableSuspended Particulates(RSP) concentrations. Any new project to be proposed should perform Environmental Management Plan (EMP) studies to predict the possible dust generation from that project. Presently USEPA models are used to predict dust concentration. An attempt is made to develop two mathematical models to predict the respirable dust particle concentration in the ambient air at various locations around the dust generating source, especially from drilling operation in Open Cast coal mines. The models were developed using different statistical tools. The required data has been generated by field investigations carried out at one of the opencast coal mines in southern India. The models were developed by providing meteorological data like wind speed, wind direction, relative humidity and temperature, the geographical data like distance from the dust source and emission rate of drilling operation as the input parameters. Results from these models were compared with USEPA model and the field measured values. Predicted values were found to be in close agreement with the Field Measured Values than USEPA model predicted values.