Air Pollution Due to Opencast Coal Mining and the Characteristics of Air-Borne Dust--An Indian Scenario

Opencast coal mining creates more air pollution problem in respect of dust and the fines contain coal particles, benzene soluble matters etc. To maintain the energy demand, opencast mining has been growing at a phenemenon rate in India. There is no well defined method for assessing the impacts on air quality due to mining projects. An investigation was conducted to evaluate the impacts on air quality and the characteristics of the air-borne dust due to opencast coal mining in Indian context. The study area has been described and the sources of air pollution were identified. Methodology adopted for the selection of air monitoring stations and air pollution monitoring to evaluate the impacts on air environment due to coal mining activities have been discussed. Impacts on air quality have been assessed on the basis upwind and down wind concentrations of air pollutants. SPM and RPM concentrations were found to be very high in work zone as well as surrounding locations. The SPM was subjected to particle size analysis using different techniques. It was observed that the particulates were more respirable in nature and the median diameter was around 20 w . Variation of weight percentages for different size ranges has been discussed as a function of mining activity. Benzene soluble matters and anions in SPM were found to be high in comparison to other areas. Settleable dust and its compositions were also analysed. The methodology adopted for the study may be utilised to assess the actual contribution of air pollutants due to other coal projects.