Mining particulate matter

Airborne particulate matter may be associated with many carcinogenic and other toxic agents. Hazardous materials include coal dust, fly-ash from power stations, metals and metal oxides from mining, extraction and refining and materials used as catalysts in industrial processes, as well as particulate matter from, for example, diesel exhausts. 

Dichlorobenzidine has been detected in the mine of workers in 3,3 -dichlorobenzidine-handling plants under conditions which favored inhalation of 3,3 -dichlorobenzddine-boimd particulate matter (Handke et al. 1986 London and Boiano 1986 Meigs et al. 1954). Under these conditions, it is reasonable to expect that some of the 3,3 -dichlorobenzidine foimd in the mine could have come from inhalation exposure. However, conditions in the plants were also conducive to dermal exposure. Therefore, some of the 3,3 -dichlorobenzidine dose foimd in the urine could have come from dermal exposure. In addition, since the mucocilliaiy clearance mechanism moves most of the larger particulates (5-10 m) out of the lungs... 

Another potential source of atmospheric radium is particulate matter created by uranium mining and milling operations. However, no information was located on estimated releases or atmospheric concentrations. 

The major sources of particulate matter in the Mae Moh area are reported to be the power plant, coal storage, coal mine (Table 2), and road dust. 

Here [Mp] and [Mr] are the metal concentrations in particulate matter and in crustal rock, respectively, and [Alp] and [Ah] are the concentrations of aluminum (or any suitable reference element) in particulate matter and crustal rock, respectively. Table 3 lists EEs for SPM or fine sediment in contrasting estuaries. Enrichment factors are close to unity for the baseline sediment and in the pristine Lena Estuary, while the greatest EE values are encountered for cadmium in the Rhine (impacted by the production of phosphate fertilizers) and the Scheldt, and for copper in Restronguet Creek (impacted by historical mining activity). The general sequence of EEs... 

Tecer LH, Suran P, Alagha O et al (2008) Effect of meteorological parameters on fine and coarse particulate matter mass concentration in a coal-mining area in Zonguldak, Turkey. Air Waste Manage 58 543-552... 

A high proportion of the occupational diseases caused by special substances are diseases of the respiratory tract, in particular, so-caUed pneiunoconiosis in the mining industry and silicosis, which is activated by quartz and particulate matter. Although these dusts themselves are not toxic, they can lead to chronic pulmonary damage as a result of an overload of the cleaning systems of the respiratory tract... 

The final rule amends the NSPS for coal preparation and processing plants, establishing new emissions standards for particulate matter (PM), opacity, sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxides (NOx), and carbon monoxide (CO). The rule does not establish NSPS for emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrous oxide (N2O), black carbon (a component of PM) or other greenhouse gases from these sources. The revised performance standards are intended to reduce emissions at all new, modified and reconstructed coal preparation and processing facilities at coal mines, power plants, cement plants, coke manufacturing facilities, and other industrial sites that process more than 200 tons of coal per day. 

Why particulate matters are considered as primary pollutants of concern in clay processing operations Give a brief note on various types of particulate matters produced during clay mining. 

The particulate matter in the lungs of rats exposed to aerosols (6.6 1.9 mg/m and 14.9 6.2 mg/m ) of high-potential coal workers pneumoconiosis bituminous coal dust from a mine in Appalachia for up to 20 months was contained almost entirely within the cytoplasm of alveolar macrophages so burdened with the material that cellular detail was obscured (Busch et al. 1981). 

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