Journal of Scientific & Industrial Research Vol 60, October 2001, pp 786-797 Air Pollution due to Opencast Coal Mi MK Ghose” Cen of Min Received 29 January 20 (Open cast mining dominates thecal prohcton senso Coal proition scenario and its impact ir quality is deribe ‘rowing at a phenomenon eae. Tare sno well-defined! method for assessing the impacto lining and It’s Control in Indian Context and $ R Majee vironment, Indian School of Mies, Dhanbad $2600, tis 101; accepted: 29 June 2001 es more serious sr polation problem in the area, im the ener denand in opens! mining 1 it quality de to mining project, in nia, hee ‘An investigation is conducted to evaluate the impact on air envionment duc to opencast goal mining. Exisson factor data are lized for computation of dst generation de to efferent bien ir monitoring Sations are desribed, Work zone at quality, ambien ML The stats of ai pollatin due to opencas mining evaluated and its impact ‘hie shows high pluton potential due 10 ‘om air environment is assessed, Choracerstics SPM show ag ive ad suppressive maasures in addition to dust extaeton sytem. involve planning and implementation ofa series of prever ‘ining activities. Approach forthe selection of work zone ad and seasonal variations are discussed, eat concern to human health, Air poluion contol measires The study reveals thal thee a need for wider application of dist control chemicals and an indepth tectivo-ceonomic survey 1 essential. Different abatement measures or contol of ar plot cies useful for contol to diferent ai pollutants ad plan uilized on instal scale for vai Introduction ‘Coal is the primary source of energy’. The develop- iment of various industries has a cascading affect on the demand of coal. With the rapid rate of growth of industries, the future demand of coal will be very high? But the utilization of coal would be limited by environmental disruption, including deterioration of 3 quility due to the emission of particulate matter and other aseous pollutants from various mining operations, which, in general, have adverse environmental impacts. The magnitude and significance of air pollution, caused by mining, depends on method of mining, scale and concentration of mining activities, geological and geomorphological setting of the area. In India, coal production will have to be increased to meet the energy «demand atthe rate of 20-25 Mv/y (ref 3). In underground, coal mining humans suffer from coal mining inside underground workings but opencast mining creates much more air quality deterioration in respect of dust and gaseous pollutants in and around the mining complexes. Opencast mining dominates the coal production scenario in India due to the techno-economie factor, better safety, ete. At the time of nationalization in 1973, when the total "Naor for correspondence nate entmeited. Air pllaion contol by tes, es toler pollcion is discussed. The methodology adopted could be ine ‘coal production was 75 Muy the share of opencast mi was 20 per cent. By 2000 AD when the total coal production was 417M¢ the share by openeast mining reached about 70 per cent and the future plan envisages. larger share by opencast mining. In opencast mining, a massive overburden will have to be removed to reach the mineral deposits. This may require excavators, transporters, loaders, conveyer belts, ete., which will results in massive discharge of fine articulate from the overburden materials. Similarly normal operations will also require exeavation, transportation, loading, unloading, size reduction, stock piling ete’, All of these will generate particulate matter §. The volume and ¥: particles in the ambient a air pollution problem in the surrounding areas. Cowh hhas reported that vehicular traffic on haul road of mechanized opencast mines can contribute as much as 80 per cent of the dust emitted. Chadwick er af.” have nated that about SO per cent of total coal dust released ng journey time on an unpaved haul road, while 25 percent for both during loading and unloading of dumper Drilling is perhaps the next important source of fugitive dust". Another major source of fugitive dust is wind erosion from coal stockpiles,GHOSE. & MAIEE: AIR POLLUTION DUE TO OPEN CAST MINING 787 Over exploitation of nature in the name of industialization and development is causing degradation of our environment. At the same time, we do relalise that we cannot stop the development in the name of saving environment only. A balance between sustainable development and environment management is the need of the hour, Environmental impact assessment (EIA) plays a crucial role in resolving the conflicts’ Thus, iis necessary to assess the impacts on air environment due to opencast coal mining so thal proper metigative measures could be implemented. However there is no well-defined method of assessing the impacts on ai environment due to opencast coal projects. To evaluate the impact on air environment a fact-finding survey is essential, In this study attempts have been made to develop a methodology to evaluate the status of air pollution due to opencast coal mining and to suggest control measures for the control of air pollution. Materials and Methods ‘The study area was one of the largest openeast coal projects (OCP) for coking coal in Jharia Coalfields JCF), It has 34.6 Mt quarriable reserve of coal. The project report was sanctioned in the year 1982 for a targeted production of 2.5 Muy and the life of the project was 17 y. The quarry was being worked in two patches through separate box euts. Working depth during the study period was about 60 m in box cut three sections. Working was going on in X seams having seam thickness of 9.62 m. The project is located in the north-west of JCF in Dhanbad district of Jharkhand State. Itcovers an area of about 6.8 sq km It is located between latitudes 23°46'30°N and 23°47'4"N and longitudes 86°10°47"E and 86°13°31"E, Itis surrounded by many opencast and ‘underground coal mines. Work zone air quality monitoring stations were selected near the sources of air pollution”, The details of the monitoring stations are given in Table 1 and 2. ‘Ambient air monitoring stations were selected, keeping in view the dominant wind directions pre the area, One ambient air monitoring station was located in the project office of OCP. The dominant winds directions of the area’! were W and NW. During the selection of ambient air monitoring stations the approach was to put ‘Wo monitoring instruments at upwind (W and NW) and {wo instruments at downwind (E and SE) directions. The approach was also to see that these should cover the industrial, residential and sensitive area like hospital as different standards have been laid by Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) "*. Goverment of India, The sampling was continued twice a week for four weeks in 4 month of each season covering winter January) summer (May-June), monsoon (August) and post- monsoon (October) seasons."* Air samples were collected for 24h in three 8h shifts corresponding 10 daytime, evening, and nighttime, Micrometeorological data were collected on sampling days with respect to wind direction, wind velocity, humidity and temperature.”* ". SODAR data were collected from a monostatic and Doppler SODAR make M/s Ramtech, France installed at Central Mining Research Station (CMD, Dhanbad. The parameters studied were wind speed and direction, mixing height, ventilation coefficient (vO) Forthe collection of samples of suspended particulate matter (SPM), glass fibre ambient (GF/A) filter paper was used ina high volume sampler (HVS) and for respirable dust particulate matter RPM) GFYA w in respirable dust sampler (RDS) at a flow rate of 1-1 to 1.5 m'min that allows the SPM to deposit on the filter paper. Particulate with size range of 0.1 t0 10Oqim was collected by HVS". The cut-point diam of RDS was less than 10m. Both, HVS and RDS were manufactured by Mis Envirotech Ltd, New Delhi, HVS, having impingers (bubbler trains) in series with sodium tetrachloromercurate as absorbi operated at an average flow rate of 0.5L Jmin for collection of SO, (as per I: 5182, Pat IL 1969) for 24h.In thecase of collection of NO. sodium hydroxide was used bsorbing solution and Gollected at an average flow rate of 0.5L min for 24h (as per IS: S182, Part IV 1976) ‘The impinger samples were putin ice boxes immediately after sampling and transferred to refrigerator prior to analyse. The samples were analysed spectro- photometrically using West and Gake methods and Jackob and Hocheiser modified methods for analysis of SO_ and Nox, respectively". SPM and RPM were coniputed ater weighing the filler paper before andar sampling. ‘The filter paper was conditioned in a dry atmosphere before weighing. Particle size amalysis of SPM was done on the basis of the principle of photo-extinetion and sedimentation techniques with a Micron Photosizer manufactured by Seisin Enterprise Co, Ltd, Japan (Model SKN 1000), Attachment of centrifuge with the unit had made it pos- sible to determine size distribution up to 0,02 4. Resp rable dust sampler (RDS) make Envirotech, New Dethi788 JSCIIND RES VOL 60) OCTOBER 2001 Table Location of work zone monitoring stations Avaisance of 100m from the deaglinne a bot 2 Roof of feeder breaker control room at about 3m above the ground [Ata height of about 2m on the debris atone side ofthe aul oad (On the other of haul ard near near the box eut 3 office above the ground On the immediate above the bench of a working bench Roof top of room nea the workshop area which is about 3m above Table 2—Locations of ffeeat ambien! at monitoring stations Direction from Bock OCP Location SINo Station site Location wi Feeder breaker Bw? Hol road (HR) Bw3 Hil road near box cut 3 soetion(HR2) atabout 3 m above the ground Bws Dragline section Bws Shoveldtumper loading we Workshop the grown Sin No. Nature of area BAI Block 1 OCP Industeia BA2 Benigin OCP Indust survey office pA Nudhturkee Residential bad Madhutband Residential BAS Bendis hospital se Contre Oa the roof tp ofthe Black I pit office which bout dm above the grourd level On the roof tp ofthe survey of about Am above the ground w On the roof tp ofa villager's hose hich about 7m above the ground SE On the roof top of av shat 3m above the ground Nw (On the root tp ofthe hospital at aut 44m above the round was used to determine respirable particulate matter (RPM). In RDS, the dust-laden air is imparted with a rotating motion by virtue of its tangential entry into the cyclone. Due to this rotation, dust particles S10 pt de- posit on the walls of the cyclone and settle below and the air containing the RPM travels up and is collected over GFIA filter paper. Caseade impactor for particle size analysis (make Graseby, Anderson, UK), walso used Assessment of Impact on Air Environment The sources of air pollutants were identified and lifferent mining activities were recorded along with production of coal and overburden materials, During the period the mine was producing 2500 t coal Ad and overburden removal was 9950 m'Vd, Emission Factor data were utilized for assessing dust generation due to different mining activities"™=". It has been estimated that different mining activities generate dust, which ccounted 9.36t dust/d". The dust generated by different activities contributes SPM as well as seitleable fractions in the surrounding locations, ‘The data of four seasons revealed that SPM concentration for almost all the monitoring stations exceeded the permissible limit specified by Central Pottution Controt Board (CPCB) (Table 3) during winter, pre-monsoon and post-monsoon periods. During the monsoon period, SPM fell within the permissible limit due o the removal of dust partieulate with rainwater. In fact, they exceeded the permissible limits specified for dustrial (500 pig/m'), residential (200 g/m’) and