Generation and Quantification of Hazardous Dusts from Coal Mining in the Indian Context

The increasing trend of opencast coal mining in India tends to release huge amounts of dust. But there is no well-defined method of estimating dust emission due to different coal mining activities. This paper examines the sources of dust emission due to coal mining activities, and focuses on the qua...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Environmental monitoring and assessment 2007-07, Vol.130 (1-3), p.35-45
Main Author: Ghose, Mrinal K
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Air Pollutants, Occupational - analysis
Air pollution
Air pollution control
Air quality
Atmospheric particulates
Batch load
Box cut
Coal
Coal Mining
Coking
Dragline
Dust
Dust emission
Dust storms
Emission analysis
Emissions
Environmental Monitoring
Environmental protection
Environmental science
Estimates
Hauls road
India
Mines
Occupational Exposure
Open pit mining
Opencast
Outdoor air quality
Overburden
Pollutants
Pollution control
Prediction equations
Quality assessment
Roads & highways
Studies
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Summary:The increasing trend of opencast coal mining in India tends to release huge amounts of dust. But there is no well-defined method of estimating dust emission due to different coal mining activities. This paper examines the sources of dust emission due to coal mining activities, and focuses on the quantification of dust emission with the development and use of emission factors. Because of their site-specific nature, emission factors developed for one site may not give the correct results for another site. In the present investigation, prediction equations are utilized for the development of emission factors. For the applications of this concept, one large opencast coal project of Bharat Coking Coal Ltd. (BCCL) was investigated, and the total amount of dust emitted due to different mining activities was calculated by the utilization of emission factor data, which was estimated to be 9368.2 kg/day. This paper also focuses on the significance of this study in the field of environmental protection and likely impacts of such study. The paper concludes that once the amount of dust generation is estimated, the impact on air quality can be assessed appropriately and a proper air-pollution control strategy can be developed.
ISSN:0167-6369
1573-2959
DOI:10.1007/s10661-006-9451-y