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Assessment of occupational health exposure to particulate matter around opencast coal mines, India: a case study

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Abstract

Particulate matter concentrations in terms of occupational health, namely inhalable, thoracic, and alveolic, were measured using GRIMM aerosol spectrometer in Basundhara Grajanbahal Area, Sundergarh, India. At mining sites, average inhalable, thoracic, and alveolic particle concentrations were found to be 1.8 to 2, 1.8, and 1.2 to 1.6 times the concentrations at residential sites, respectively. Ratio of thoracic/inhalable, alveolic/inhalable, and alveolic/thoracic varied in the range 73–91%, 42–73%, and 55–80% at residential sites and 69–84%, 37–52%, and 49–63% at mining sites, respectively. From correlation analysis, significant positive correlations among particulate matter concentrations, positive correlation of particulate matter concentrations with relative humidity, and negative correlation with temperature and wind speed were obtained.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are thankful to Prof. Aditya Kumar Patra, Associate Professor, Department of Mining Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, for providing necessary help during the research work. The valuable suggestions and comments of the anonymous reviewers are highly appreciated as it contributed to extensive improvement of quality of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mining Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, Kharagpur, India

    Satya Prakash Sahu & Neha Rani

  2. Central Mine Planning and Design Institute, Bhubaneswar, India

    Manish Yadav

  3. Mine Design and Simulation Section, CSIR—Central Institute of Mining and Fuel Research, Dhanbad, India

    Arka Jyoti Das

Authors
  1. Satya Prakash Sahu
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  2. Manish Yadav
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  3. Neha Rani
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  4. Arka Jyoti Das
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Correspondence to Satya Prakash Sahu.

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Sahu, S.P., Yadav, M., Rani, N. et al. Assessment of occupational health exposure to particulate matter around opencast coal mines, India: a case study. Arab J Geosci 11, 373 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-018-3631-2

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