Occupational exposure to particulate matter in thr

Authors: Sneha Gautam Prashant Kumar Aditya Kumar Patra

Publish Date: 2014/12/28

Volume: 9, Issue: 2, Pages: 143-158

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Abstract

Exposure of mine workers to particulate matter PM in opencast mines is of major concern because of associated adverse health impacts Dispersion of PM in such mines depends on their design and local meteorological conditions With an increase in depth of mines efficient vertical movement and the dispersion of PM away from mine working area become difficult Therefore studies on dispersion behavior of PM in opencast mines are needed Measurements of PM concentration have been carried out in three opencast mines in India i Malanjkhand Copper Project MCP ii Kiriburu Iron Ore Mine KIOM and iii Meghahatuburu Iron Ore Mine MIOM A total of 20 days of monitoring of PM and local meteorology were carried out in these three mines The aims were to investigate the following i vertical PM concentration profiles at different depths during mining operation ii particle travel time and its relationship with mine depth iii particle mass balance in terms of the dispersion and settling proportion and iv the relationship of particle concentration with depth as it moves downward Results show that the inhalable PM 10–20 μm were ~22 and 36  higher than the thoracic 4–10 μm and alveolic 4 μm fractions of PM respectively Travel times of PM from ~10 m mine depth to surface are measured up to 17and 13 min for the KIOM and MIOM respectively Travel time was as high as ~1 h at MCP for source workplace where mining operations are taking place at a depth of 168 m An empirical equation R = 0746 p = 0034 showing relationship between particle travel time and depth is developed About 23–39  inhalable 19–37  thoracic and 9–30  alveolic PM settled inside the mine within a vertical distance of 18–20 m from the source and 30–47  inhalable 31–51  thoracic and 34–54  alveolic PM escaped from the mine The empirical equations for downward movement of PM predicted particle concentrations between 88 and 91  of the measured value at 10 m depth and 75 and 95  at 40 m The findings of this work are important in understanding dispersion of occupational PM at the worksite and the associated exposure of mine workersThe authors acknowledge Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur India for funding this research work under the ISIRD grant Support of General Manager of the Malanjkhand Copper Mines of Hindustan Copper Limited and the KIOM MIOM of SAIL in providing necessary facilities for conducting the field study is duly acknowledged

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