Respirable nano-particulate generations and their pathogenesis in mining workplaces: a review

Abstract

There is a growing concern in mining community about the contribution of nano-particulates to miner’s health. Despite the health influence of respirable dusts and associated lung diseases have been recognized for decades in the mining industry, the nano-scale particulates accompanying with complicated physiochemical properties and their enormous contribution in quantity have been drawing attentions only in recent a few years because of the advancement of nano-science discipline. In this review, we examine the current regulations of dusts exposure and the dominant mass-based monitoring methods to point out the ignorance of nano-particulates in mining industry. The recognized mining-related nano-particulates sources are summarized to identify the mechanically generated finer particulates including particles and aerosols. In addition, the mechanism of adverse health impact on miner with exposure to nano-scale particulates is discussed in a detail to emphasize their substantial detriment as a potential respiratory hazard. Characterization of the complex physiochemical properties of nano-particulates are then summarized and discussed because these properties could be different from regular respirable dusts due to their dramatically increased surface area and particulate counts. The intent of this review is to demonstrate the potential of adverse health effect of nano-particulate on the mine personals throughout the mining cycle and to identify the research gaps of the mine nano-particulate characterization and quantification. We suggest that further understanding of the mining induced nano-particulate properties and their pathogenesis are critical for the future engineering control measure to mitigate the potential health threat for future miners.

Effects of chemical composition on the lung cell response to coal particles: Implications for coal workers' pneumoconiosis

“…It is generally thought that epithelial cells and resident macrophages induce persistent inflammation and tissue injury leading to a cycle of aberrant repair which promotes fibrosis 5,7 . Disease severity is well known to be correlated with mass concentration, exposure duration and particle size, 5,8 with some evidence to suggest that submicron and nanoparticles may exhibit enhanced toxicity compared to larger particles 9,10 . However, the prevalence and severity of CWP differ geographically, despite comparable exposure to respirable dust 11 .…”

“…5,7 Disease severity is well known to be correlated with mass concentration, exposure duration and particle size, 5,8 with some evidence to suggest that submicron and nanoparticles may exhibit enhanced toxicity compared to larger particles. 9,10 However, the prevalence and severity of CWP differ geographically, despite comparable exposure to respirable dust. 11 This observation suggests that coal composition plays a key role in determining CWP pathogenesis.…”

Fluid Films as Models for Understanding the Impact of Inhaled Particles in Lung Surfactant Layers

“…Pollutant inhalation is associated with the emergence of pathogenic states and respiratory diseases, e.g., acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases, fibrosis, or lung cancer [10,11]. Therefore, it is critical to perform a careful examination of the effect of particles in respiratory function [12].…”

Chemistry and particle size distribution of respirable coal dust in underground mines in Central Eastern Europe

“…quartz, sulphates and sulphides), and has distinctive major (Fe, Si, S) and trace element (As, Pb, Cr, Mn, U) signatures which may be linked to classic coal worker diseases such as pneumoconiosis (CWP) or progressive massive fibrosis (PMF) (Dalal et al 1995;Liu et al 2005;Cohen et al 2008;Li et al 2013;Caballero-Gallardo and Olivero-Verbel 2016;Fang et al 2020;Pedroso-Fidelis et al 2020;Jin et al 2021). In recent years, the use of improved technologies has generally increased mine output but has also, in some cases, produced higher concentrations of dust (Perret et al 2017;Johann-Essex et al 2017;Leonard et al 2020;Fan and Liu 2021). This may have been a factor in the resurgence of coal mining-related respiratory diseases in some mines (e.g.…”