Air Pollution Due to Opencast Coal Mining and It's Control in Indian Context M K Ghose • and S R Maj Ee Centre of Mining Environment
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Jou rn al of Scientific & Industrial Research Vol. 60, October 200 I, pp 786-797 Air Pollution due to Opencast Coal Mining and It's Control in Indian Context M K Ghose • and S R Maj ee Centre of Mining Environment. In dian School of Mines, Dhanb ad 826004, India Received: 29 Janu ary 200 I; accept ed : 29 June 200 I Open cast mining dominates th e coal production scenario in India. It creates more serious air pollution prob le m in the area. Coal producti on scenari o and its impact on air quality is descri bed. To maint ain th e energy demand in opencast min ing i~ growing at a phenomenon rate. There is no wcll-clefinccl method for assess in g the impact on air qu alit y clu e to minin g projects. An investi gati on is condu cted to evalu ate th e impact on ai r enviro nment due to opcncast coal mining. Emi ssion fac tor dat a arc utili zed for computati on of du st ge neration due to different mining ac ti viti es. Approach for the selec ti on of work zo ne and ambient air monitoring stations arc cl cscribccl. Work zone air qu alit y, ambient air qu alit y, and seasonal va riati ons arc di sc ussed. whi ch shows hi gh po llution potential clue to SPM. The statu s of air pollution clue to opencast mining is evaluated and its impac t on air environment is assessed. Characteristics SPM show a great concern to human hea lth . Air pollu tio n control measures involve pl anning and implementati on of a series of preventi ve and suppressive measures in addi ti on to du st ex trac tion system. The study reveals that th ere is a need for wider appli ca ti on of du st co ntrol chemi ca ls and an in depth techno-economic survey i ~ essential. Different abatement measures for co nt ro l of air pollution arc enumerated . Air pollution cont rol by trees. rrees tolerant to dillerent ai r pollutants and pl ant species useful for co ntrolling air polluti on is di sc ussed. The meth odology adopted could be utili zed on industrial sca le for various sites. Introduction coal production was 75 Mt/y the share of opencast mining was 20 per cent. By 2000 AD when the total coal Coal is the primary source of energy'. The develop producti on was 4 17Mt th e sha re by opencast mining ment of various industri es has a cascad ing affect on th e reached about 70 per cent and th e future plan envisages demand of coal. With the rapid rate of growth of larger share by opencast mining. industries, the future demand of coal will be very hi gh.2 But th e utili zation of coal would be limited by In opencast mining, a mass ive overburden will ha ve environmental di sruption, including deteri oration of air to be removed to reach the mineral deposits. Thi s may quality due to the emission of particulate matter and other require excavators, transporters, loaders, conveyer belts, gaseous pollutants from various mining operati ons , etc., which will results in massive discharge of fin e wh ich , in general , have adverse environ mental impacts . particulate from th e overburden materials. Similarly The magnitude and significance of air pollution, caused normal operations will a lso require excavati on, by mining, depends on method of mining, sca le and transportation, loading, unl oading, size reduction, stock 4 conc entration of mining activities, geolog ical and piling etc . All of th ese will generate particul ate geomorphological setting of th e area. In India, coal matter ' · The volume and variety of air borne du st production will have to be increased to meet the energy particles in the ambient air is ever increasin g and causing demand at the rate of 20-25 Mt/y (ref 3). In underground air pollution problem in th e surrounding areas. Cowherd r' coal mining humans suffer from coal mining inside has reported that vehicul ar traffic on haul road of underground workings but opencast mining creates much mechanized opencast mines can contribute as mu ch as more air quality deterioration in res pect of dust and 80 per cent of the du st emitted. Chadwick et of. 7 ha ve gaseous pollutants in and around th e mining complexes. estimated that about 50 per cent of total coal dust released Opencast mining dominates the coal producti on scenario during journey time on an unpaved haul road, while 25 in India due to the techno-economi c factor, better safety, per cent for both during loading and unl oading of dumper. etc. At the time of nationali zation in 1973, when th e total Drilling is perhaps th e next important source of fu giti ve dust K. Another major source of fugi tive dust is wind · Auti1or for corresponclcn cc eros ion from coal stockpiles. GHOSE & MAJEE: AIR POLLUTION DUE TO OPEN CAST M INING 787 13 O ver e xpl o ita ti o n o f na ture in th e na me o f Control Board (CPCB) , Governme nt of India. T he industri alizati on and development is causing degradati on sampling was continued twice a week for four weeks in of our environment. At the same time, we do relali se a month of each season covering winte r (January), that we cannot stop the development in the name of summe r (M ay-June), monsoon (August) and post 14 saving environment onl y. A balance between sustainable mo nsoon (O c tobe r) seasons. · Air samples were development and environment management is the need coll ected for 24h in three 8h shi fts correspond ing to of the hour. E nvironmental impact assessment (EIA) daytime, evening, and ni ghttime. Micrometeorological 1 pl ays a crucial role in resolvin g the conflicts' . Thus, it is data were coll ected on sampling days with respect to necessary to assess the impacts on air environment due w ind directi o n, w ind veloc it y, humidity a nd 15 to ope ncast coal mining so th at prope r me ti gati ve temperature. · "'. SODAR data were coll ected from a measures could be implemented . However there is no monostati c and Doppler SODAR make M/s Ramtech, well-defined method of assessing the impacts on air France in stall ed at Central Mining Research Station environment due to opencast coal projects. To evalu ate (CMRI), Dhanbad . The parameters studied were wi nd the impact on air environment a fact-finding survey is speed and direction, mi xing height, ventilati on coefficient essentia l. In this study atte mpts have been made to (VC). develop a methodology to evaluate the statu s of air For the coll ecti on of samples of suspended parti culate pollution due to opencast coal mining and to suggest matter (SPM), glass fibre ambient (GF/ A) filter paper control measures for the control of air pollution. was used in a hi gh volume sample r (HYS) and fo r Materials and Methods respirabl e dust parti culate matter (RPM) GF/ A was used T he study area was one of the largest opencast coal in respirable dust sampler (RDS) at a flow rate of 1. 1 to projects (OCP) fo r coking coal in Jhari a Coalfields (JCF). 1.5 m'/min that all ows th e SPM to deposit on the filter It has 34.6 Mt quarri able reserve of coal. T he project paper. Particul ate with size range of 0. 1 to I 0011 m was 17 coll ected by HYS . The cut-point diam of RDS was less report was sanctioned in the year 1982 for a targeted production of 2.5 Mt/y and the li fe of the project was th an I 011 m. Both, HVS and RDS were manu factured by M/s Envirotech Ltd, New Delhi . HYS, havin g impi ngers 17 y. The quarry was bein g worked in two patc hes (bubbl e r tra in s) in seri es w ith sodium th rough separate box cuts. Working depth during th e study peri od was about 60 m in box cut three secti ons. tetrachl oromercurate as absorb in g solutio n, were operated at a n average fl ow rate of 0.5L /m in fo r Working was goin g on in X seams havin g seam thi ckness coll ecti on of SO (as per IS: 5 182, Patt II 1969) fo r 24h.fn of 9.62 m. The project is located in the north-west of JCF in Dhanbad di strict of Jharkhand State. It covers an the case of coll etti on of NO sodium hydroxid e was used as absorbing soluti on and coll ected at an average flow area of about 6.8 sq km It is located between latitudes rate of 0.5L /min fo r 24h (as per IS: 5 182, Part IV 1976). 23°46'30"N and 23°47'4"N and longitudes 86° 10'47"E The impinger samples were put in ice boxes immediately and 86° 13 '3 1"E . It is surrounded by many open cast and after sampling and transferred to a refri gerator pri or to underground coal mines. a na lyse. The samples were a na lysed spectra Work zone a ir qua lity monitoring stati ons we re photometrically.