Technological reviews of particulate matter and their source identification techniques

Abstract

Particulate matter (PM) is one of the primary pollutants produced from mining operations. This paper summarizes the existing techniques used to identify sources of PM and their contribution to ambient air pollution. Human health studies indicate that there is an association between airborne PM and adverse health effects. Particularly in coal mining areas, the burning of coal and PM from machinery operations cause low air quality that is physically harmful. Thus, the sources of smoldering combustion, that are typical in coal mine burns, increase the risk to mine workers who are exposed to high concentrations of known toxicity associated with PM. Recent studies on the modeling of PM concentration profiles across various sources were reviewed for this paper.